Lodsys files lawsuits against 7 developers in ongoing in-app purchase patent dispute
Company brings forward legal action ‘to preserve its legal options’
The dispute over Lodsys's in-app purchasing patents rumbles on.
Apple’s recent cease and desist letter to Lodsys, after the firm made legal threats against a number of iOS developers, seemed like it might defuse the situation. Instead it appears to have lit the blue touchpaper.
According to MacRumors, Lodsys has reneged on a promise to allow the developers involved 21 days to organise their responses to the threats, filing lawsuits against seven app-makers.
FOSS Patents has the details of the developers affected: Combay, Iconfactory, Illusion Labs, Michael G. Karr, Quickoffice, Richard Shinderman, and Wulven Games.
Lodsys has written several posts on its blog to explain the action, essentially blaming Apple’s recent response to the initial threats as the catalyst for this unexpected move.
“Apple appeared to give the Developer community what they wanted. Unfortunately for Developers, Apple’s claim of infallibility has no discernable basis in law or fact,” one entry claims.
“Lodsys chose to move its litigation timing to an earlier date than originally planned, in response to Apple’s threat, in order to preserve its legal option,” adds another.
“We stand firm and restate our previous position that it is the 3rd party Developers that are responsible for the infringement of Lodsys’ patents and they are responsible for securing the rights for their applications.”
Strong words, and indeed Lodsys is so confident it is right that it has offered to pay $1000 to each developer should Apple’s licence rights cover the developer for in-app purchases. “We are willing to put our money where our mouth is and pay you something if we are wrong,” the firm states.
Expect this one to run and run, particularly with Apple’s WWDC event on Monday, where the company will likely be asked a few difficult questions about Lodsys’s actions.
