iOS devs put out a call to unite against Lodsys, other patent trolls. Move over Apple: some independent app developers plan to begin banding together to fight off lawsuits brought by Lodsys and its ilk on their own. On Monday, renowned iOS developer Mike Lee announced the Appsterdam Legal Defense Team, which will be made up of indie developers fighting patent trolls as a single unit and funded by contributions from participating companies. The goal, aside from the obvious one of being free from frivolous patent lawsuits, is to become "the ants of East Texas, minding their business until someone invades their anthill. " Patent licensing firm Lodsys began its assault on third-party developers earlier this year when it began suing them for allegedly infringing on a patent related to in-app purchases under iOS.
Since Apple provides developers with the technology to implement in-app purchases, the initial wave of lawsuits came as somewhat of a surprise—why would Lodsys choose to go after small developers instead of Apple itself? Apple to Lodsys: 'App makers are protected by [our] license' A little more than a week after iOS developers were threatened with legal action by a company that holds various patents, Apple’s legal department has struck back. On May 13, many iOS developers reported receiving FedEx packages containing a threat that they risked patent-infringement lawsuits if they didn’t pay Lodsys to license a patent covering in-app purchasing and other app-related matters. In a letter sent Monday (read the full text of the letter here) to patent-holder Lodsys and its CEO Mark Small, Apple says its existing license for patents covering in-app purchases applies to all iOS app makers as well. The crux of Apple’s letter, from senior vice president and general counsel Bruce Sewell, is right in its opening paragraph, which reads in part: “Apple is undisputedly licensed to these patents and the Apple App Makers are protected by that license.
There is no basis for Lodsys’ infringement allegations against Apple’s App Makers. Apple’s argument is thus fairly straightforward. Analysis of Apple's letter to Lodsys. The first app devs to have received Lodsys's letter were only a few days away from a deadline to respond, and under that circumstance I already felt forced to recommend to app developers to be cooperative and ask Lodsys to provide its license agreement for review, despite previously having pointed out that paying Lodsys the 0.575% royalty it demands could open Pandora's Box and result in further exacerbation of the troll problem app developers face. Hours later, Apple sent various app developers a copy of its letter to Lodsys. The text of that letter -- dated May 23, 2011 -- was shortly thereafter published by Macworld.
In my view it's very good news, but I think Apple's letter in and of itself is not yet a reason to celebrate. This could still get quite unpleasant for some app devs. The most important passage consists of the following three sentences in the very first paragraph of the letter: At the end of its letter, Apple says this: Other patent infringement claims. Apple enters the fray against Lodsys, files motion to intervene. Nine days after Lodsys sued seven little app developers in the Eastern District of Texas, Apple filed a motion to intervene in the proceedings. I have uploaded the motion and its attachments (except for a sealed one) to this Scribd folder. If the court grants Apple's motion to participate as an intervenor, Apple has already submitted its answer to the complaint, and its counterclaim. Lodsys can oppose Apple's motion to intervene.
That may happen, but I believe Apple is fairly likely to be admitted as an intervenor. The app developers whom Lodsys sued appear to be bound by a non-disclosure agreement (which makes sense), so they can't speak out on their current relationship with Apple. Apple's proposed defense against Lodsys's claims is exclusively related to the assertion that the alleged infringements are covered by an existing license agreement in Apple's favor (which I'm pretty sure harks back to when Lodsys's patents belonged to Intellectual Ventures). Lodsys sues 7 app developers in East Texas, disagrees with Apple; Android also targeted. I almost appeared to be a "party spoiler" last week: amid all the enthusiasm among iPhone/iPad app developers over Apple's letter to Lodsys, I wrote that "Apple's letter in and of itself is not yet a reason to celebrate.
This could still get quite unpleasant for some app devs. " Unfortunately, I was right. Today -- on Tuesday, May 31, 2011 -- Lodsys filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (the place in which I predicted that it would do so) against seven little iOS app developers. Lodsys asserts two of its four patents: U.S. Patent No. 7,620,565 ("the '565 patent") on a "customer-based design module" and U.S. As you can see, two of the defendants are based outside of the United States. And very importantly, this lawsuit is not limited to iOS but also targets Android in at least one case (emphasized in the list above: Labyrinth for Android). Lodsys asks for injunctions and damages.
Lodsys's litigation strategy. Enough Is Enough. I believe that software patents should not exist. They are a tax on innovation. And software is closer to media than it is to hardware. Patenting software is like patenting music. The mess around the Lodsys patents should be a wake up call to everyone involved in the patent business (government bureaucrats, legislators, lawyers, investors, entrepreneurs, etc) that the system is totally broken and we can't continue to go on like this.
First of all, the idea of a transaction in an application isn't novel. Second, Lodsys didn't even "invent" the idea. Third Apple and Google, the developers of the iOS and Android app ecosystems (and in app transaction systems), did license the Lodsys patents but that is not good enough for Lodsys. The whole thing is nuts. All four Lodsys patents under invalidation attack in federal court.
I have news concerning Lodsys because a Michigan company named ForeSee Results Inc. has filed a declaratory judgment suit against Lodsys's four patents with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. I'll get to that in a moment. On a related note, there's no news related to Lodsys's lawsuit against app developers from Apple and Google at this point. More than a week after Lodsys sued seven little app developers, Apple and Google (a reminder: one of the accused products is an Android app) still have not declared publicly that, how and to what extent they will cover developers who have been or may in the future be sued by Lodsys.
It's a bit too early to say that this means they won't act, and I think it makes sense to wait at least until the end of Apple's ongoing Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), but it's getting time for the big players to answer the question of coverage. Apple's letter to Lodsys is not enough. Declaratory judgment actions against Lodsys. Research firm paying $5K bounty to invalidate Lodsys patents.
Article One pays if Lodsys patents ruled invalid Lodsys faced added pressure Wednesday after Article One Partners started up a trio of bounties (one, two, three) against its patents. Anyone who successfully finds an instance of prior art or otherwise shows a given patent is likely invalid will be paid $5,000 for the work. The effort is part of a regular campaign that has targeted other questionable patent holders, such as MacroSolve, and was meant to help developers and others that didn't have the resources to defend against a patent troll campaign. "The use of crowdsourcing here has become a revolutionary change in the industry because the people who are now being impacted aren't really able to help themselves in defense," Article One's chief Cheryl Malone told CNET.
She noted that most of these cases finish within six weeks and often get the first results within a few hours. Article One wasn't paying for the bounty but wouldn't say who was behind the funding. By Electronista Staff.