Communication Intelligence Corp.

Communication Intelligence Corp. (CIC) was formed in 1981 in Menlo Park, California, to develop technology that let people operate computers by writing rather than typing.¹ The company's core product, Handwriter, was built on research originally performed by SRI International, which in 1982 transferred the initial technology and granted CIC a royalty-free patent license in exchange for roughly 833,000 Class A common shares.² CIC unveiled the Handwriter — a digitizing tablet and pen that read alphanumeric characters, graphics, signatures, and commands — at the 1987 National Computer Conference, aiming it at markets such as Japan and China where ideographic writing made keyboards impractical.¹ By 1987 the firm had invested more than $9 million and 100 man-years in the system and had shipped more than 600 units for on-site testing in Japan.¹ Design and manufacture of the Handwriter products was licensed to Seiko, and in March 1987 CIC listed on the Vancouver Stock Exchange under the symbol CUA.B.²

CIC's Handwriter Recognition System received a 1990 R&D 100 Award from R&D Magazine as one of the most significant new technical products of the year.³ In February 1991 the company introduced MacHandwriter, which it described as creating the world's first full-capability pen-input desktop PC when combined with the Macintosh, with Apple Japan Inc. as its exclusive distributor in Japan.³ CIC began trading its Class B common shares on the NASDAQ over-the-counter market under the symbol CICIB in September 1991, by which time it was headquartered in Redwood Shores, California, with an international subsidiary, CIC Japan Inc., in Tokyo.³

CIC pursued a worldwide licensing program for its multilingual recognition software and PenDOS pen operating environment, beginning with Samsung, which licensed the Handwriter Multi-Lingual Recognition System and PenDOS for its PenMaster notepad computer in October 1991.⁴ In January 1992 CIC launched PenLABS, a program to teach developers to adapt DOS programs for pen input and to test pen compatibility, naming vice president of special projects Norman Austin its general manager.⁵ That April the company announced Handwriter for GO Corp.'s PenPoint operating system, demonstrating it at GO's PenPoint 1.0 launch.⁶ NEC took a worldwide license to CIC's pen computing technology in June 1992,⁷ and in July CIC released PenDOS 2.0 for the U.S., European, and Japanese markets.⁸ In September 1992 CIC entered a marketing and technology agreement granting IBM rights to resell and sublicense PenDOS worldwide.⁹

In February 1993 Fujitsu Ltd. signed a worldwide license for CIC's Handwriter, Dynamic Signature Verification, and PenDOS technologies.¹⁰ That same month CIC reported fiscal 1992 revenues of $4.1 million, a 275% increase over the prior year.¹¹ Also in February the company brought the Handwriter Recognition System to Microsoft Windows for Pen Computing, the product of a three-year collaboration with Microsoft.¹² CIC's Handwriter won “Best Handwriting Recognizer” and its Dynamic Signature Verification “Best Pen Utility” at PenExpo in 1993.¹³ In November 1993 CIC began shipping Handwriter for Windows in the United States and Canada at a retail price of $399.¹⁴ The company posted record revenues of $1.7 million in the first quarter of 1994, by which point more than 12,000 Handwriter products had been installed.¹⁵

In July 1994 CIC filed for Chapter 11 protection, citing difficulty arranging planned financing amid a tight worldwide capital market.¹⁶ A plan of reorganization was filed in September 1994, and the company received court approval of a $1 million bridge loan and an equity-financing agreement assuring a minimum $5 million infusion, with CIC scheduled to emerge from Chapter 11 in November 1994.¹⁷

After emerging from reorganization, CIC turned to the handheld market, announcing Jot, a user-independent handwriting recognition system optimized for Microsoft Windows CE, in November 1996.¹⁸ Casio licensed CIC's QuickNotes note-taking application for its Cassiopeia Windows CE devices in 1997.¹⁹ That March the Arthritis Foundation commended the Handwriter as an ergonomic pen-based editing tool for computer users.²⁰ In June 1998 CIC expanded its board to seven directors, appointed Philip Sassower chairman, and eliminated the office of chief executive officer that James Dao and Sassower had jointly held.²¹

CIC began shipping Jot for the Palm III and PalmPilot organizers at $39 in August 1998.²² In February 1999 the company announced Sign-it for Adobe Acrobat 4.0, naming licensees including The Chase Manhattan Bank, Fujitsu, Microsoft, and Nortel.²³ CIC shipped InkTools, a signature-capture and verification toolkit for the Palm Computing platform, in March 2000.²⁴ Silicon Valley executive Louis Panetta joined the board of directors in October 2000.²⁵ In February 2003 Motion Computing bundled CIC's Sign-On biometric signature-verification software with its M1200 Tablet PCs, associating a handwritten signature with the user's Windows password.²⁶

AI generated using primary sources referenced in the footnotes