Editing Voicemail (section)

==== Inventor controversy ====
Many contributed to the creation of the modern-day voicemail. Legal battles ensued for decades.<ref>{{cite web
   |url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1985/10/28/66509/
   |title=The Legal Battles Over Voice Messaging: A young inventor from Florida says the technology is his. So does a small company in Texas. Both have sued to protect it.
   |author=Dexter Hutchins
   |work=Fortune
   |date=October 28, 1985
}}</ref> The {{citation needed span|true first inventor|date=October 2021}} of voicemail, patent number 4,124,773 (Audio Storage and Distribution System), is Robin Elkins.<ref>{{cite web
   |url=http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=4124773.PN.&OS=PN/4124773&RS=PN/4124773
   |title=United States Patent: 4124773
   |publisher=United States Patent and Trademark Office
}}</ref> "Though Elkins received a patent in 1978, telecommunications giants began offering voicemail without paying Elkins a penny in royalties."<ref>{{cite news
   |url=http://www.inventone.com/articles/survive_herald.asp
   |title=How to Survive the Road from Invention to Marketplace
   |author=Mimi Whitefield
   |work=The Miami Herald
   |date=February 5, 1996
}}</ref> "Elkins never expected to spend 10 years of his life battling some of the world's largest corporations, either. But once he patented his system, he figured he should protect it."<ref>{{cite news
   |url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1995-08-07/business/9508030727_1_elkins-points-soul-saxophonist-lasers-cost
   |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916210059/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1995-08-07/business/9508030727_1_elkins-points-soul-saxophonist-lasers-cost
   |url-status=dead
   |archive-date=September 16, 2012
   |title=Inventor Battles to Protect Patents
   |author=Viki McCash
   |work=Sun Sentinel
   |date=August 7, 1995
}}</ref> Later, Elkins successfully licensed his patented technology to IBM, DEC, and WANG, among many others. Unfortunately, his patent did not address simultaneity of voice message access and storage and the application for patent was filed after the patent application of the system patented by Kolodny and Hughes, as described below.