If you are Apple, you can afford to go head-to-head with patent trolls, such as Lodsys. Not so the little guys. That’s why two app makers are now encouraging developers used to competing against one another to join together to fight off common enemies.
“Villian received an infringement notice and we disagree with it,” CEO Duane Baker wrote today. The maker of such action-oriented iOS games as “Archetype” wants to hear from other developers. The goal: “pooling resources in the event of a lawsuit.” Earlier this week, the Cupertino Calif. company told developers it is “fully prepared to defend Apple’s license rights.” Unsaid was if that defense extends to individual developers.
In the letter, Apple objected to Lodsys threatening individual iOS developers, collectively known as ‘App Makers.’
Another developer, Iconfactory, is also reportedly involved in building some legal shelter for Apple app makers. Iconfactory is known for its popular Twitterrific app.
The tactic of avoiding a head-on assault against Apple likely is designed to avoid the wrath of the iPhone maker’s legal staff. Unlike some patent-infringement lawsuits, Lodsys isn’t seeking publicity from high-profile action against a well-known brand, but instead may view the network of developers as the tech giant’s soft under-belly. (Please note, this writer is not a lawyer.)
To join the developers’ effort, Villain suggests you contact [email protected].
Will the tactic work? Can Apple protect its army of iOS developers? Are developers even at fault? What do you think? Let us known in the comments.
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
18 responses to “iOS Developers Gang Together to Fight Off Patent Troll Lodsys”
Dear Lodsys,
GFYS.
Sincerely,
App Makers
Apple has already protected them with the letter. There is very little chance that Lodsys will try any lawsuits.Â
Clearly they went after the little guys to try to double dip. They assumed that this were dumb kids that would roll over in fear and agree to anything to avoid a lawsuit.Â
They didn’t count on pissing off these ‘young pups’ and having them go public about what was going on. But they did and Apple found out the game, verified that indeed their license was for their ‘partners’ also and shoved it publicly in Lodsys face. Now that Lodsys has been called out they won’t try anything else. Why bother, they will lose.Â
Apple extended no protection to the indie devs with their letter. All they said was that their belief was devs were protected: they did not promise legal support. Lodsys can still sue anyone they like.
Lodsys could still sue. MacroSolve is doing just that! Suing small app developers and where is Apple? or Google, RIM or Microsoft?Â
Nothing is going stop patent trolls until the US patent laws change.Â
http://fosspatents.blogspot.co…
Good on them but they so be so mych more involved with helping them
ahh good old 1979 and The Warriors movie. Considering the time that wasn’t a half bad flick :)
In their letter they asserted that they licensed the tech for themselves and the developers. The letter asserts that Lodsys is in error and has no basis for suing any of the app developers.Â
The license is the protection.Â
Now if Lodsys can prove that in fact the signed agreement says Apple and Apple only and there is zero language that says otherwise, sure they can sue.Â
But do you really think that Apple and its lawyers would wait days before responding and not have gone over the paperwork with a fine tooth comb before making claims about what is and isn’t covered by the deal.Â
The developer agreement doesn’t guarantee that Apple will step in for all legal issues. In fact it basically says they won’t. They stepped in with Lodsys because they had licensed the tech on behalf of the developers. In the case of MacroSolve’s claims they had not. Nor where they telling developers to use the tech (to the point of preferring it over other options). So this doesn’t really involve Apple and they are not obligated to help
apples response to lodsys, you dont belong here.
It appears that the function licensed to Apple is not provided by any apps. It’s in an API in iOS. As such, the app makers are not liable. They are no more liable than the person pushing the buttons in the app which makes the app invoke the API.
Let’s say that the iPad screen is covered by a number of patents, one or more of which are licensed to Apple. It doesn’t make much sense to claim that the app makers who make apps that use an iPad screen should have to pay for licensing as well as Apple.
This is a dog’s breakfast.