New Technology Reviews!.: lodsys

Atari, EA and others push court to accept Apple's request against Lodsys

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Lodsys filed suit earlier this year against a number of third-party App Store developers, claiming that it owned patents covering a number of functions used by Apple's app marketplace, and that by using that store, these third-party devs were in violation of these patents. Apple, however, came out swinging a little while back, throwing a blistering letter down in the lawsuit, essentially calling Lodsys' claims nonsense. And now Atari, EA, and a number of other iOS developers named in the lawsuit have thrown their support behind Apple's argument, officially filing motions to support Apple's position outlined in that letter.</div>
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The motions also ask that Apple be allowed into the lawsuit as an intervenor and not just a third-party, so that it can properly review and make an actual response to everything filed by Lodsys. Lodsys has been accused of making an end-run around Apple to the smaller developers in this case, and trying to go after companies that might not be able to afford a fight, but passing this motion would pit Lodsys straight up against Apple and all of its resources rather than just the developers themselves.</div>
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One notable exception from the companies already fighting the case: Google. Lodsys reportedly also targeted Android developers, but so far Google hasn't stepped up in the same way that Apple has. We'll have to see if the folks in Mountain View are willing to join the fight as well.</div>
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Atari, EA and others push court to accept Apple's request against Lodsys

Lodsys filed suit earlier this year against a number of third-party App Store developers, claiming that it owned patents covering a nu...

Apple updates its response to Lodsys suit, but doesn't move to invalidate patents

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<img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="110" mce_src="http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/3218/9343351.jpg" src="http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/3218/9343351.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; height: 110px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 8px auto; max-width: 640px; width: 250px;" width="250" />Apple has updated its proposed answer to the Lodsys suit against third-party developers. Lodsys has recently expanded its patent suit to include big-name iOS developers like Rovio (of Angry Birds), EA, Atari, Take-Two Interactive and Square-Enix, according to The Mac Observer.</div>
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Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents points out that Apple's amendments to its proposed answer are very minor, however, and a readthrough of the amended document bears this out. Critically, Apple's argument remains that its licensing of Lodsys's patents should be sufficient to allow third-party developers on its platform the right to use in-app purchasing tools without having to license them independently. Mueller is not fully convinced this tactic will succeed, however, and believes that Apple should instead challenge the validity of the patents themselves. Some third-party developers have already filed for invalidation of the Lodsys patents, but Apple's motion to intervene hasn't gone nearly that far yet.</div>
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Lodsys obviously believes it has a strong case if it's graduated from suing smaller developers to going after industry titans like EA and Square-Enix. Mueller seems to be asserting that Apple's response to the case thus far has been lackluster, and it's hard to argue with him; considering what's at stake, it is indeed disappointing that Apple has yet to unleash the firepower of its fully-armed and operational battle lawyers upon Lodsys.</div>
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Apple updates its response to Lodsys suit, but doesn't move to invalidate patents

Apple has updated its proposed answer to the Lodsys suit against third-party developers. Lodsys has recently expanded its patent suit to ...