Palm erases 'Graffiti' in wake of Xerox suit

NEW YORK: Spurred by a long-standing patent infringement legal battle with

office equipment maker Xerox Corp, Palm Inc has announced that it would

introduce a new handwriting recognition technology, Jot, which lets users enter

data by writing alphabet-like symbols on the screen.

PalmSource, the software arm of dominant handheld computer maker Palm, said

it signed an agreement with Communication Intelligence Corp., to license its

"Jot" handwriting recognition software, and embed it in its Palm OS

operating system. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

CIC's "Jot" features an alphabet more natural and easy-to-learn

than the original "Graffiti," for which an upside down capital L

represented the letter "T," and a pretzel-like swish stood for the

letter "K."

"The Xerox lawsuit prompted us to take a fresh look at all the

handwriting recognition alternatives," said Palm spokeswoman Marlene Somsak.

"We made a decision that Jot is better technology ... than Graffiti."

Xerox in 1997 sued U.S. Robotics, later acquired by former Palm parent 3Com,

over the "Graffiti" handwriting recognition technology. In 2002, a

court ordered Palm to post a $50 million bond following a ruling that Palm

infringed upon Xerox's handwriting recognition software patent. Last week in

Washington D.C., Palm requested an appeal. A Xerox spokesman said a three-judge

panel is expected to render a decision in two to four months.

"Let's says Palm wins the Xerox lawsuit ... we are not returning to

Graffiti," Somsak said. "We believe that 'Graffiti 2' is

superior."

However, when asked if Xerox had any plans to target CIC for its handwriting

recognition technology, he said the company is focusing for now on the Palm

case. "If they (Palm) change, we will review it, but we know that we have

several years of damages with this handwriting recognition system to address,

and for now, we are focused on that," said Xerox spokesman Bill McKee.

© Reuters