Media Information on Pending Litigation
Posted on April 4, 2012
On February 28, 2012, Semantic Compaction Systems (SCS) filed a lawsuit alleging patent infringement by the developers of an AAC vocabulary app sold on iTunes®. Recent online articles and comments in social media have contained inaccurate information about Prentke Romich. Below are answers to many of the issues that have been raised.
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Who is PRC?
Prentke Romich (PRC) is an employee-owned company located in Wooster, Ohio. We have 90 employees in Wooster and 38 clinical field staff across the US. Many of our staff have been with PRC for more than 20 years and have dedicated their careers to assisting individuals with disabilities.
PRC’s principal concern — first and foremost — is the best possible communication outcome for our clients, who have significant physical and cognitive challenges that result in severe communication disorders. Without this assistance, many would not have a voice.
- Our Mission: To help people with disabilities achieve their potential in educational, vocational, and personal pursuits.
- Our Method: By providing quality language and assistive technology products and services to people with disabilities, their families and professionals.
- Our Manner: By treating each person with whom we interact with the highest respect.
The PRC Story
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Why is the PRC approach successful?
Visions of Success
Our work only starts with assistive devices; that’s just the beginning of our language-learning process. Our dedicated speech-language pathologists work intensively and individually with our customers, so they can help their disabled clients obtain the language skills they need to reach their full potential in life.
The support we provide includes in-person and online training, a clinical field staff, online resources, a loaner program, technical support and funding services. We train thousands of clinicians, parents and others each year and continue to support them in their pursuit of the best possible outcome for their client or child.
We base our approach on research, insights and recommendations from clinical professionals and observations of thousands of clients around the world who use our solutions.
AAC Technology that Changes Lives
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Is PRC opposed to AAC apps for the iPad®?
No. PRC clearly understands that consumer technology-based products have become an important part of assistive technology. These products can be all or part of solutions for a wide range of clients.
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Is it true that the infringement suit will remove all AAC apps from the market?
No. There are many vocabulary apps in the market, some of which have been available for several years. The lawsuit only addresses one specific app, which infringes on the intellectual property developed by SCS.
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Why is SCS suing? How are the app developers infringing?
The Unity system that powers our language solutions is the result of the long commitment and hard work of Bruce Baker and his company, Semantic Compaction Systems, which licenses the system to PRC. Our patent attorneys determined that there are multiple instances of infringement on the Unity patents. Bruce has spent more than 25 years and millions of dollars to create and refine this software, resulting in life-changing technology that has given a voice to thousands of individuals with profound disabilities. To take someone’s life work and market it as your own is simply wrong.
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Did PRC attempt to work with SFY to resolve this situation?
When PRC first learned of the app in November 2011, we reached out to the company’s founders, and offered various business solutions. When all of our offers were refused and they continued to market the app, we filed the first and only lawsuit PRC has ever filed in our 45-year history.
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Why are you refusing to develop an app?
PRC has never said we will not develop an iPad® app. Like most companies, we don’t publicly share future product development plans. However, we do recognize that new consumer technology will play a role in assistive technology, although it may not be the best option for all clients. We intend to participate in this space but will only do it in a way that supports the best possible outcomes for our clients.
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You do not have an app, so why do you care if someone else does?
There are many vocabulary apps on the market that do not infringe on our patents. Our only concern is the app that does infringe on our intellectual property. There’s a reason patents are in place, to protect decades of hard work and research that goes into our devices. To take someone’s life work and market it as your own is simply wrong. It’s similar to scanning the pages of a book that took an author years to research and write, putting it on the web and selling it as your own. It may be wonderful for readers to get the content at a bargain price but it’s certainly not fair to the author who is not paid for his original creation.
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If this isn’t all about money, why do your devices cost thousands of dollars?
Our devices are durable medical equipment, built in accordance with FDA regulations. We also hold accreditation from the Accreditation Commission for Health Care and are an ISO-9001 registered company.
Our products are medical devices and have specialized features important to our clients, such as heavy duty cases, enhanced voice output and multiple access options including eye-gaze and head pointing. The devices provide multiple vocabulary options, allow for customization and provide support tools such as the Vocabulary Builder, Icon Prediction and the Language Activity Monitor. All of the companies that create dedicated AAC devices manufacture only a few thousand of these devices each year and obviously don’t enjoy the same economies of scale as products intended for the consumer market.
It’s also important to note that our work only begins with assistive devices. Our clinical field staff works with other professionals to assure that our users obtain the language skills they need to achieve their full potential in life. We do not charge for those services that support the assistive devices.
Meet Chris Klein
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What has PRC done to address the needs of the growing autism market?
Based on our years of experience and clinical research, one of our clinicians developed a strategy specific to children within the Autism Spectrum. We have provided free training on this methodology to more than 10,000 individuals during the last five years.
Meet AJ Marlowe
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How do you respond to parents who believe you should do more in the app market, and do it more quickly?
The parents of children with disabilities are focused totally on the well-being and quality of life of their children. Any family that includes someone with a significant disability faces extraordinary challenges. We work with thousands of these families and parents each year and we understand and respect their passion. Our goal is and has always been to help people with disabilities achieve their potential in educational, vocational, and personal pursuits.
Meet Micah
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How will the removal of the SFY app from I-Tunes affect current users?
This question would be best addressed by the developers of the SFY app.
