Company files patent infringement suit

YOUNGSTOWN — A sister company to Turning Technologies has filed a lawsuit that says a competitor has infringed on a patent used in its audience response system.

Responsive Innovations, which produces the hardware used in Turning Technologies’ system, said today it has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Youngstown against I Clicker.

The suit says I Clicker has violated a patent that covers the communication method used by Turning Technologies’ response card. The suit seeks unspecified damages.

The patent was awarded earlier this year and was an important milestone for the company, said Mike Broderick, chief executive of Youngstown-based Turning Technologies.

“As a technology company, we have made an enormous investment in our intellectual property,” he said.

Officials at I Clicker could not be reached to comment. Its Web site said the company was created as a spinoff from the University of Illinois physics department. It now is owned by Macmillan, a publisher with operations in the U.S. and England. I Clicker said its audience response system has been used at 550 colleges since it was developed two years ago.