There has been a lot of stuff going on, when it comes to patents and Apple. On one side it is fighting a patent war with the likes of Samsung and Google (though indirectly), while on the other side there are a bunch of developers who are being sued by patent trolls like Lodsys and Kotool.
To give you a little background on the latter part, Lodsys claims that by using the In-App Purchases API, developers violate patents Lodsys owns. This is despite the fact that Apple has already licensed these patents. Fortunately for developers, some of whom don’t even posses the resources to battle out Lodsys in court, Apple has taken a firm stance against this and plans to intervene in this case on behalf of developers.
Apple had filed a motion to intervene back in June this year, just 9 days after Lodsys went on a suing spree. This motion, unsurprisingly, was fiercely opposed by Lodsys citing various reasons, one of them being that Apple’s patent license does not extend to app developers. But lets face it why would anyone want to face a company with abundant legal resources and deep pockets in court.
The latest update in this saga, as reported by FOSS Patents, is that Apple has come up with a reply to Lodsys’ protests staying firm on its stance against Lodsys and backing up its developers. Apple has made several points addressing each of the reasons Lodsys had given out as to why Apple shouldn’t intervene.
Apple says that they have a supplier customer relationship with app developers, since they pay Apple a yearly fee in exchange of products and services. Therefore, it argues, that Apple’s license should extend to its customers, i.e app developers. Lodsys intends to charge licensing fees to developers as well, which would be something like charging for the same product twice.
Apple goes on to say that, Lodsys’ legal notices have been sent out to dozens of app developing firms and individuals, some of whom have planned to boycott Apple’s products. This is indeed true to a certain extent, international app developers have been forced to pull their apps from the US App Store to stay away from lawsuits like these.
Apple also argues that even though sued companies may possess enough resources to fight the case (companies like EA and Rovio do) they do not have the technical information and expertise regarding how Apple’s technology works. It says that Lodsys fails to explain why Apple shouldn’t be involved in the case even though the central point of dispute is a license that Apple owns.
Overall FOSS Patents’Â Florian Mueller remains optimistic about the court granting Apple’s motion.
If you understand legal jargon and lawyer talk, here is the actual document filed by Apple defending its decision to intervene in the proceedings. And if you prefer detailed coverage about this in human readable language, head over to the source link.
It’s nice to see Apple saying “we’ve got your back” to developers. What’s your take on the whole situation? Â Shout out in the comments section.
[via FOSSPatents]
Source: Apple Firm On Backing App Developers In Their Legal Battle Against Lodsys
