[EHR Scoop]

ScanSoft Changes Name to Nuance Communications, Inc., Unveils New Corporate Identity and Branding
Burlington, Mass., October 18, 2005 – ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT), today announced that it has changed its name to Nuance Communications, Inc., presenting a unified position for the company in the markets it serves. The new name marks the culmination of four years of work in building the world’s most comprehensive and innovative provider of speech solutions. Nuance will use the ScanSoft name for its family of imaging solutions. The company will continue to be listed as "SSFT" on the Nasdaq National Market until November 21, 2005 when it will begin trading as "NUAN" (Nasdaq: NUAN).

"Our new name symbolizes an important point in the company’s evolution and better represents our mission to provide solutions that improve the customer experience," said Paul Ricci, chairman and CEO of Nuance. "While our name and branding have changed, the facets of the organization that have made the company a trusted provider, partner and employer are unwavering. Nuance will continue in its tradition of delivering the industry’s premier speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world."

Speech software is transforming the way people use digital devices and access information systems. Through its dictation, embedded and network speech solutions, Nuance offers the world’s most comprehensive and innovative portfolio of speech technologies, expertise and solutions. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance by calling directory assistance, receiving account information over the phone, dictating patient records or telling a navigation system their destination. Nuance has deployed more than 3,000 speech applications for some of the world’s most respected companies including AOL, Bank of America, British Airways, Charles Schwab, Citigroup, Daimler Chrysler, Ford, General Electric, LG, Nokia, SBC, United Airlines, Verizon and Vodafone.

Nuance is committed to making speech-enabled systems, devices and interactions as effective and ubiquitous as the Web. In doing so, the company draws on the talents and experience of more than 300 speech scientists and engineers, a professional services organization that comprises more than 250 speech and voice user interface experts, and a global partner network that includes industry leaders such as Avaya, Bosch-Blaupunkt, Cisco, Delphi, Dictaphone, Genesys, IDX, Intel, Microsoft, Nortel, Sony, Texas Instruments, and Visteon to further promote the innovation and adoption of speech. For additional information and to experience the power of the spoken word, please visit www.nuance.com.

Nuance will continue to leverage the recognition that the ScanSoft name has earned in the market by using it as the name for its family of imaging solutions. Through unrivaled features, accuracy and performance, ScanSoft imaging solutions eliminate barriers to productivity by enabling people and organizations to automate a range of document processes – increasing productivity, saving time and reducing costs.

With products for enterprises, small-to-medium-sized businesses and home offices, these solutions put the power of PDF on every business desktop; convert paper and PDF into documents that can be edited; and simplify scanning and document management using multifunction scanners and networked digital copiers. Nearly 100 percent of hardware and software vendors that implement scanning and optical character recognition, including Autodesk, Brother, Dell, Filenet, Hewlett-Packard, Lexmark, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Symantec, Visioneer and Xerox, rely on ScanSoft imaging solutions to deliver their own superior products. For additional information and to experience new levels of productivity, please visit www.nuance.com/scansoft.

Nuance Communications, Inc.
Nuance (Nasdaq: SSFT) is the leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance's proven applications and professional services. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.

Nuance, the Nuance logo and ScanSoft are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other company names or product names may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

This press release contains certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including statements relating to the continued strength of existing products, services and relationships, and future prospects regarding product lines, sales channels and international operations. Such statements are based on current expectations that are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the following: fluctuations in demand for Nuance’s existing and future products; economic conditions in the United States and abroad; and possible defects in Nuance’s products and technologies. A detailed discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from such forward-looking statements is included in Nuance's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K/T for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2004, and its most recent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Nuance undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this document.

[EHR Scoop]

November 28, 2005 08:00 AM US Eastern Timezone

Dragon NaturallySpeaking from Nuance Strengthens Foothold as Standard Speech Recognition Solution for Healthcare Industry

RSNA 2005

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 28, 2005--

Unrivaled Accuracy, Specialty Vocabularies and Mobility Features in World's Leading Speech Recognition Solution Combine to Dramatically Reduce Costs, Improve Patient Care

Nuance Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: NUAN), formerly ScanSoft, Inc., the leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world, today announced that its Dragon™ Dictation Solutions family has become the standard in speech recognition technology for the healthcare sector. Already in use at thousands of healthcare facilities worldwide, Dragon NaturallySpeaking® Medical, Dragon NaturallySpeaking® SDK (software developer kit), and the Dragon™ MT Workflow System can save healthcare organizations thousands of dollars per doctor each year in reduced or eliminated manual transcription costs by converting speech into text at up to twice the speed of the spoken word, automating the clinical documentation process and eliminating the high cost and long turnaround time associated with the manual transcription of patient notes.

Nuance provides the healthcare industry with an unmatched set of speech recognition solutions, including Dragon NaturallySpeaking Medical, the world's best selling front-end speech recognition solution for electronic medical records systems, the Dragon NaturallySpeaking Server SDK, which enables the server-based processing and workflow of recorded patient information, and the Dragon MT Workflow System, a scalable, HIPAA compliant, web-based platform for end-to-end transcription processing The Dragon NaturallySpeaking family of products includes 14 pre-made medical specialty vocabularies, supports the creation of custom vocabularies, and delivers patent-pending roaming user capabilities to enable use within distributed care provider facilities.

A growing number of healthcare vendors and integrators have joined with Nuance to speech-enable their healthcare solutions, including: Allscripts Healthcare Solutions; Cerner CoPath; ChartLogic, Inc; Clinical Content Consultants, LLC; Commissure; Dictaphone; DR Systems, Inc.; ERad; Guardian; IDX Systems Corporation; Instar; Meditech; Misys Healthcare Systems; Mountain Medical Technologies, Inc.; Northbase; NovaRad; Polaris-Danforth; SoftMed Systems; STI Computer Systems, Inc.; Structurad; Swearingen; ThinAir; Virtual Radiological Consultants; and Voicebrook. In addition, ScanSoft® Dragon NaturallySpeaking® has garnered accolades from respected publications worldwide, including CNet, Computer Reseller News, Forbes, The New York Times, PC Magazine, PC World, and SmartComputing.

Nuance's Dragon Dictation Solutions apply highly accurate speech recognition to intelligent workflow processing solutions in order to reduce the costs associated with manually converting medical dictation into text, estimated at $10 billion in North America and $15 billion worldwide each year. Nuance delivers these solutions through its growing number of channel partners, including healthcare information systems vendors, systems integrators, digital dictation systems vendors and MTSOs. Dragon Dictation Solutions are used worldwide by physicians, records management and medical transcription teams within hospitals, clinics and physician practice organizations, as well as MTSOs to enhance their current transcription services businesses.

Nuance Speech Solutions

Nuance Speech Solutions make the user experience more compelling and expand business potential. Through its dictation, embedded and network speech solutions, Nuance offers the world's preeminent portfolio of speech technologies, expertise and solutions that transform the way people interact with businesses, information and each other. Today, thousands of companies and millions of users around the world depend on Nuance Speech Solutions to deliver vital information, increase productivity and conduct business. To experience the power of the spoken word, please visit nuance.com.

About Nuance Communications, Inc.

Nuance (Nasdaq: NUAN) is the leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance's proven applications and professional services. For more information, please visit nuance.com.

Nuance, the Nuance logo, Dragon, and NaturallySpeaking are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and other countries. All other company names or product names may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

The statements in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performance are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with market trends, competitive factors, and other risks identified in Nuance's SEC filings. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements that speak only as of the date hereof.

Contacts

Nuance Communications, Inc.
Erica Hill, 781-565-5218
erica.hill@nuance.com
or
Schwartz Communications
David McKee, 781-684-0770
dmckee@schwartz-pr.com

[DrBigJohn]

Seems like whenever anybody talks about voice recognition, it always comes down to Dragon.

Are there any other meaningful vr programs out there? I have a number of colleagues who are very happy using Dragon, and I'm thinking of getting it. I just want to make sure that there aren't other choices I've missed.

Thanks!

[EHR Scoop]

Dictaphone to Demonstrate Multivendor, Cross-Organization Medical Record Data Sharing At HIMSS; Natural Language Processing Technology Converts Speech Recognized Dictation into Electronic Medical Record Data
HIMSS 2006 Annual Conference
SAN DIEGO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 13, 2006--At this year's Health Information and Management Systems Society Annual Conference and Exhibition, Dictaphone will show how its speech recognition and natural language processing (NLP) software can be used to convert dictated patient information into data that can be seamlessly shared with almost any standards-based electronic health record (EHR) system. The demonstration will be part of a series of interoperability showcases presented by Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE), a global initiative that creates the framework for passing vital health information seamlessly -- from application to application, system to system, and setting to setting -- across multiple healthcare enterprises.


This ability to pass information real-time between various applications is made possible by adherence to IHE's Cross Enterprise Sharing of Medical Summaries (XDS-MS) profile, an emerging industry interchange standard. Keith W. Boone, a senior consulting engineer for Dictaphone, serves as co-chair of the IHE Patient Care Coordination Technical Committee, which produced the XDS-MS profile, as well as editor of the Health Level 7 (HL7) Care Record Summaries Implementation Guide.

In the demonstration, a "physician" will dictate a discharge report using Dictaphone's speech recognition software, which automatically converts voice to text. Dictaphone's proprietary NLP technology then works in the background to generate an HL7 Care Record Summary, which permits data to be exchanged with other EHR systems supplied by vendors participating in the showcase.

"With interoperability a watchword in the dialogue on creating electronic health records and regional health information organizations, or RHIOs, Dictaphone is pleased to be supporting the development of these key information exchange standards," said Don Fallati, executive vice president of marketing for Dictaphone. "We believe our speech recognition and NLP technologies will play a crucial role in providing clinical documentation tools that will actually be used and preferred by physicians, while meeting the needs of the new standards-based environment."

An estimated 50 percent or more of the patient chart is made up of dictated reports, the preferred physician documentation method. Rather than requiring physicians to change or anyone to manually enter discrete data elements into a software application (typical of most EMR systems), Dictaphone's NLP technology makes this dictated information rapidly available in a summarized data format. The technology analyzes and "reads" electronic text documents and extracts important medical facts, storing them in a database in structured data format along with a link to the section of the electronic report from which they were extracted. Testing has proved the high accuracy of NLP technology, which is based on computational linguistics.

About Dictaphone Healthcare Solutions Group

Dictaphone is the world's largest supplier of dictation, transcription and speech recognition systems and services that simplify and enhance the production and management of paperless electronic patient information. Through the integration of speech recognition and natural language processing within existing health information management workflow, Dictaphone systems are helping healthcare organizations save money and improve patient care by increasing the speed, accuracy and usability of their medical documentation. For more information, please visit www.dictaphone.com or call 1-888-350-4836.

Contacts
ARiA Marketing, Inc.
Sandy Cummings, 617-332-9999, x210
scummings@ariamarketing.com
or
Dictaphone Corporation
Don Fallati, 203-381-7218
don.fallati@dictaphone.com

[EHR Scoop]

February 27, 2006 08:00 AM US Eastern Timezone

Dragon NaturallySpeaking from Nuance Wins Prestigious CNET Editors' Choice Award; CNET Editors Cite Dragon NaturallySpeaking as ''Excellent''; Leading Speech Solution Praised for Accuracy, Advanced Features and Ease of Use
BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 27, 2006--Nuance Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: NUAN), a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions, today announced that it received a CNET Editors' Choice award for its Dragon NaturallySpeaking® Professional 8, the world's leading speech recognition solution. The coveted CNET Editors' Choice award recognizes outstanding personal technology and consumer electronic products that represent the best available choice for quality, performance, design, and service, and its logo is a mark of excellence denoting the best possible investment for technology buyers.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 is the latest release of the world's leading speech recognition solution, enabling the automatic conversion of speech into text at up to 160 words per minute at accuracy levels up to 99%, and allowing the voice-control of software applications simply by speaking. CNET editors have awarded Dragon NaturallySpeaking the esteemed Editors' Choice Award for three consecutive years. In their latest review, CNET editors wrote, "Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional 8 does a great job of letting you take care of most computing needs with voice commands instead of the keyboard--a godsend for those who suffer from repetitive stress injuries..... this is a great voice-recognition program for those who want to minimize use of the keyboard and the mouse." The review can be found at http://reviews.cnet.com/4505-3528_7-31228939.html

CNET Editors' Choice winners are recognized as top products in their respective technology categories, and contribute to the standard by which all future products are judged. A key selection requirement is the difference it makes in the lives of its users, whether through innovative features, exceptional value for the price, remarkable ease of use, or a demonstrable boost to users' productivity.

"We are very excited about this honor from CNET as their Editors' Choice award has become the hallmark of technology quality and innovation, and its logo is a symbol consumers know and trust," said John Shagoury, president, Productivity Applications Division, Nuance. "This is an exceptional achievement and we are very proud to be recognized for our dedication and commitment to producing the highest quality products available today."

Dragon NaturallySpeaking converts speech into text at up to 160 words-per-minute, at accuracy levels of up to 99 percent, and allows users to control Microsoft Windows and many of their PC applications completely by voice. The product is tightly integrated with Microsoft Office, and allows users to create new documents and e-mails, navigate programs, and surf the Web, all by voice.

For information on Dragon NaturallySpeaking and the CNET Editors' Choice award, please visit editorschoice.cnet.com.

Nuance Communications, Inc.

Nuance (Nasdaq: NUAN) is the leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance's proven applications and professional services. For more information, please visit nuance.com.

Nuance, the Nuance logo, Dragon and NaturallySpeaking are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other company names or product names may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

The statements in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performance are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with market trends, competitive factors, and other risks identified in Nuance's SEC filings. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements that speak only as of the date hereof.

Contacts
Nuance Communications, Inc.
Erica Hill, 781-565-5218
erica.hill@nuance.com
or
CNET Networks, Inc.
Sarah Winterhalder, 415-344-2218
sarah.winterhalder@cnet.com

[EHR Scoop]

BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 4, 2006--Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN), the world's leading supplier of speech and imaging solutions, today announced Nuance's Dragon™ Mobile Dictation, a new Nuance® Mobile technology for mobile device users to dictate SMS messages using continuous speech. Nuance will demonstrate the new functionality in Booth # 5044 at CTIA Wireless 2006, being held this week in Las Vegas, Nevada.


Leveraging the award-winning Dragon™ NaturallySpeaking® technology within the mobile environment, Nuance's Dragon Mobile Dictation gives mobile phone users a more natural way to enter SMS messages, up to five times faster than using a keypad or predictive text. With continuous speech technology, users aren't required to pause between words when dictating text.

"Mobile subscribers sent over a trillion SMS messages last year alone. They are now ready to use their voice, rather than thumbs, to send text," said Dan Miller, senior analyst, Opus Research. "Dictation is just part of Nuance's arsenal of embedded and server side-solutions. In concert with mobile carriers and handset makers, the company is ready to demonstrate that the convenience of accurate dictation will drive user adoption and repeat usage even further."

"From voice-activated dialing to SMS message dictation and read-out, our goal is to overcome traditional keypad constraints to deliver new levels of convenience and accessibility for mobile phone users," said Craig Peddie, vice president and general manager, Embedded Speech Solutions, Nuance. "Previous mobile dictation solutions forced users to pause awkwardly between words and speak in an unnatural way. Nuance's Dragon Mobile Dictation offers a significant usability improvement, allowing mobile users to compose text messages by speaking naturally."

Mobile dictation not only overcomes traditional keypad constraints for data entry, but also enables hands-free use of mobile devices for improved convenience, safety and accessibility. Powered by the robust VoCon® 3200 embedded speech engine, the Nuance system combines high-recognition performance with an easy-to-use correction interface to provide the best user experience. Nuance will be delivering the first release of Dragon Mobile Dictation to several OEM partners in May.

The new dictation capabilities extend Nuance's existing portfolio of embedded speech solutions for mobile applications, currently available on more than 50 million handsets worldwide, including models from LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sanyo and Siemens and supported by major carriers such as Orange, Sprint, T-Mobile and Vodafone. This functionality includes voice-activated dialing, voice commands for rapid access to phone features, and audio readout of caller identities, email or SMS messages in a variety of languages and voices.

About Nuance Communications, Inc.

Nuance is the leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for business and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications, and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share, and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance's proven applications. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.

Nuance, the Nuance logo, Dragon, Naturally Speaking and VoCon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and other countries. All other company names or product names may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Contacts
Nuance Communications, Inc.
International
Vanessa Richter, +32-9-239 80 31
vanessa.richter@nuance.com
or
North America
Kristen Wylie, 781-565-5428
kristen.wylie@nuance.com

[Robert Gleeman]

Seems like whenever anybody talks about voice recognition, it always comes down to Dragon.

Are there any other meaningful vr programs out there?  I have a number of colleagues who are very happy using Dragon, and I'm thinking of getting it.  I just want to make sure that there aren't other choices I've missed.

Thanks!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I know what you mean, but it isn't for lack of trying. Many vendors have tried, such as IBM, to catch up with Dragon since 1982, but no dice. They don't even come close.

Until you have tried Dragon, do not make up your mind on VR.

Another important fact: Nuance sells through a tight-knit group of local resellers who have "skin in the game". They all paid big bucks and went through meticulous training to obtain the right to sell Dragon. They can make Dragon work for you even if you never saw a computer before. They are just that dedicated and "in love" with their own product. They see Dragon as a life-changer--both for themselves, and for their clients.

I am very impressed with these Dragon resellers, having been a sales rep myself for 30 years. I've seen no finer sales and support people in any industry.

Also, just in case you think Dragon is too expensive at under $1K, remember that this is one purchase you might be using over 10,000 times each year from now on. That's really not very expensive.

[DrBigJohn]

Seems like whenever anybody talks about voice recognition, it always comes down to Dragon.

Are there any other meaningful vr programs out there?  I have a number of colleagues who are very happy using Dragon, and I'm thinking of getting it.  I just want to make sure that there aren't other choices I've missed.

Thanks!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Since my last post - it seems as if Nuance purchased Dictaphone too!

So I guess there is only 1 program out there that does what Dragon does: Dragon.

[hula girl]

BURLINGTON, Mass., Feb 16, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Nuance Communications, Inc. /quotes/comstock/15*!nuan/quotes/nls/nuan (NUAN 14.81, +0.18, +1.20%) today announced that it has acquired MacSpeech, the leading provider of speech recognition solutions for Apple Macintosh computers. The agreement will allow Nuance to extend the Dragon NaturallySpeaking family of products to the growing community of Mac users as a native Mac application.

"We have heard from our customers -- and from the Mac community at large -- for years that they want Dragon for the Mac environment," said Peter Mahoney, senior vice president and general manager for Dragon, Nuance Communications. "In 2008, MacSpeech licensed our underlying Dragon dictation technology to deliver MacSpeech Dictate, and the demand has only continued to grow, fueled recently by our recent launch of Dragon Dictation for the iPhone. MacSpeech's knowledge of the Mac platform and its deep understanding of Mac users, coupled with our decades-long experience with speech recognition and the popular Dragon brand, will allow us to provide the world's best dictation technology in a solution that is 100-percent Mac."

Through the acquisition of MacSpeech, Nuance will be positioned to accelerate the growth opportunity for MacSpeech products by adding additional research and development support, Dragon brand recognition, marketing support, and distribution channels. In addition, the acquisition presents more growth opportunities for Dragon NaturallySpeaking with new audiences and on new devices.

Dragon has long been the leading speech recognition application on the desktop, used by millions of people around the world. As demand for speech has grown, Nuance has sought to make speech recognition accessible to more people, from more places and devices. Nuance recently launched the popular Dragon Dictation and Dragon Search Apps for iPhone, and both applications quickly climbed to the top of the charts on the App Store. And now automotive manufacturers can harness the power of Dragon to allow drivers to access dynamic real-time information and services by voice -- right in their cars.

"MacSpeech responded to the growing demand for a native Macintosh, high-quality speech recognition solution with MacSpeech Dictate integrated with the Dragon speech recognition engine," said Andrew Taylor, president of MacSpeech. "We are excited to become part of the Nuance team and accelerate our ability to deliver great speech solutions to the Mac community."

For more information please visit http://www.nuance.com/macspeech.

MacSpeech

MacSpeech is a Mac-only company dedicated to producing the finest speech recognition products for Macintosh. Further information on MacSpeech can be found at www.macspeech.com.

Nuance Communications, Inc.

Nuance Communications, Inc. /quotes/comstock/15*!nuan/quotes/nls/nuan (NUAN 14.81, +0.18, +1.20%) is a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance's proven applications. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.

Trademark reference: Nuance and the Nuance logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other company names or product names referenced herein may be the property of their respective owners.

SAFE HARBOR FOR FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Statements in this document regarding the product and service capabilities of the combined company and the market for those products and services, benefits and synergies of the transaction, future opportunities for the combined company, and any other statements about management's future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans or prospects constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words "believes," "plans," "anticipates," "expects," estimates and similar expressions) should also be considered to be forward looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward looking statements, including: the ability of Nuance to successfully integrate the product offerings of the combined company, and the other factors described in Nuance's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2009 and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Nuance disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this document.

SOURCE: Nuance Communications, Inc.


Nuance Communications, Inc.
Erica Hill, 781-565-5218
Mobile : 781-888-5518
Email: erica.hill@nuance.com
Twitter : @DragonTweets, @MacSpeech
http://www.facebook.com/dragonnaturallyspeaking;


Copyright Business Wire 2010

[Zdoc]

Seems like it is time for Nuance to change its name again. Dragon seems to have a new home every few years, and its been Nuance for quite some time.

[Remedy 4 That]

Vlingo Announces Victory in Patent Trial with Nuance Communications

Jurors Found No Evidence of Infringement


CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Vlingo Corporation, the maker of the Virtual Assistant that turns your words into actions today announced a jury in Federal District Court in Boston found that Vlingo did not infringe on U.S. Patent No 6,766,295 (the '295 Patent) entitled "Adaptation of a Speech Recognition System across Multiple Remote Sessions with a Speaker" as alleged by Nuance Communications.

In its ruling the jury found that Vlingo did not infringe on any of the 30 claims of infringement asserted by Nuance.

To reach this verdict the jury heard testimony from one of the inventors of the '295 Patent, experts in the speech recognition systems field, a patent lawyer and employees from both Nuance and Vlingo. The testimony and evidence put forth to the jury failed to prove that Vlingo in any way infringed.

Specifically, Nuance alleged that two Vlingo commercial systems infringed the '295 patent: the Vlingo/IBM system and the Vlingo/AT&T Watson system. Vlingo uses speech recognition systems developed by IBM and AT&T to build its products. The jury found neither system infringed. Ironically, the IBM speech recognition system used in the Vlingo solution was acquired by Nuance in 2009, and Vlingo is a customer of Nuance's for the IBM engine. So, in alleging the Vlingo/IBM system infringed, Nuance was claiming a customer of its own technology infringed its patents – even though this use was consistent with the terms of the license.

A Businessweek Bloomberg article recently reported that Nuance has sued eight companies over alleged patent infringements but that is hasn't won any judgments.

"The ruling by the jury is further vindication that Nuance cannot compete in the market, said Dave Grannan, president & CEO, Vlingo. "We are happy to report that with this latest ruling, Nuance's record remains perfect in patent infringement trials, they haven't won any."

"For the market as a whole, we are happy to report we have successfully defended the Vlingo and AT&T Watson technology from the patent litigation tactics of Nuance," Grannan continued. "Rapid innovation and a diversity of suppliers is very important to our industry, and since Nuance acquired the IBM speech assets the Vlingo/AT&T system is really one of the few remaining alternatives to Nuance in the market. We are happy to report that in conjunction with AT&T we will continue providing an alternative. Vlingo's new innovative technology doesn't infringe Nuance's old patent. Vlingo also has pending against Nuance in Delaware a patent infringement case asserting Nuance infringes patents owned by Vlingo."

In addition, all claims in '295 patent have been found invalid by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) in a reexamination proceeding.

"It's distasteful that Nuance engages in this abuse of the legal system because it clogs our courts and stifles innovation," said Mike Phillips, CTO, Vlingo. "We hope this ruling demonstrates to the market and our customers that Vlingo won't be bullied by these tactics and will continue to deliver on innovation."

In an absurd allegation, Nuance also asserted that several experiments Vlingo and AT&T conducted in conjunction with AT&T's Watson Speech Engine infringed the '295 patent. These joint experiments were for research purposes only, and never resulted in a commercial product. The jury also ruled that these experiments did not infringe the '295 patent.

"It's a real measure of the desperation of Nuance," said Grannan. "This is clearly an aggressive step by Nuance to attempt to attack AT&T's technology through Vlingo and demonstrates Nuance will go to the ridiculous extreme in its patent troll behavior to try to stifle innovation in our industry."

"It's a new level of absurdity," said Mike Phillips, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Vlingo. "Nuance actually used an academic research paper from Interspeech 2011, a well known research conference, to accuse Vlingo of running infringing experiments. I have been attending these conferences for decades and have never seen anything this ridiculous. "

"We saw Nuance issued a press release tonight on this jury ruling with the headline: 'Jury Returns Mixed Verdict in Nuance Patent Lawsuit Against Vlingo,' "said Grannan. "That's like the Red Sox beating the Yankees in the World Series, and then seeing the Yankees issue a press release saying: 'World Series Returns Mixed Result, Red Sox Win but Yankees got More Hits.'"

About Vlingo

Vlingo is a Virtual Assistant that turns your words into action by combining voice to text technology, natural language processing, and Vlingo's Intent Engine to understand the user's intent and take the appropriate action. Simply speak to your phone to connect with the people, businesses and activities that are important to you. Vlingo is the safest and easiest way to get things done while on the go. Send text and email messages, search the web, use Google maps, update Twitter and more. Founded in 2006, Vlingo is backed by Charles River Ventures, Sigma Partners, Yahoo! and AT&T and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information, go to www.vlingo.com.

[OrthoMan]

Nuance sure is in the news a lot. What do you think will be next?