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Lodsys Free to Continue Patent Threats Against Developers After Judge Tosses Apple's Legal Challenge

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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Following the ongoing legal threats to iOS developers by patent holding firm Lodsys, an East Texas judge has tossed Apple's original legal challenge of the patent firm, ruling that Lodsys is free to settle all its cases, reports Ars Technica.
Now, after two years of litigation, it's back to square one. The East Texas judge overseeing Lodsys' systematic patent attack on app developers has refused to even consider Apple's motion. Instead, he allowed the patent-holding company to settle all its cases--and then dismissed Apple's motion as moot. By doing so, US District Judge Rodney Gilstrap--who has inherited the patent-happy East Texas court that once belonged to patent-troll favorite T. John Ward--has enabled Lodsys to threaten developers for months, and perhaps even years, to come.
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lodsys_logo_2012-500x141.jpg
The legal actions by Lodsys originally started in May 2011, where the firm threatened to sue App Store developers over In-App Purchases and upgrade links, claiming that it had a patent to the process which was originally filed in December 2003 as a part of series of continuations on earlier patent applications dating to 1992. The patent in question was credited to Dan Abelow, who sold the patent portfolio to Lodsys in 2004. The move prompted Apple to back developers against the patent threats, stating that iOS developers were "undisputedly licensed" later that month in 2011.

At that point, Lodsys also targeted Android developers with patent infringement claims, and Apple eventually filed a motion to intervene within the Lodsys lawsuits. While Apple was granted limited permission in April 2012 to intervene in the Lodsys case, this permission was overturned today.

This past April, Lodsys specifically targeted Disney's "Where's My Water?" title among others in a new round of lawsuits over in-app purchasing, stating that Disney had infringed its '565 and '078 patents had been infringed upon by the entertainment corporation. However, Lodsys agreed last month to dismiss a patent case against developer Todd More, for a charitable donation. Overall, Apple has been the number one target for patent trolls with 171 cases in five years, with U.S. President Barack Obama targeting patent trolls such as Lodsys, announcing proposed legislative changes this past June.

Article Link: Lodsys Free to Continue Patent Threats Against Developers After Judge Tosses Apple's Legal Challenge
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/09/30/lodsys-free-to-continue-patent-threats-against-developers-after-judge-tosses-apples-legal-challenge/
lolkthxbai

lolkthxbai

macrumors 65816
May 7, 2011
1,426
489
Is there any chance or way for The President to intervene in favor of Apple? I feel like after blocking the ban on iPhones before seemed to suggest The President played favorites.
 
macbeta

macbeta

macrumors regular
Nov 13, 2009
143
294
Software patents = troll fodder

I wish big company's like apple would take a stance against software patents, until they stop doing it themselves, there is always going to be fodder for trolls.
 
9

9000

macrumors 6502a
Sep 29, 2013
519
0
Hyrule
"claiming that it had a patent to the process"

The "patent" link goes to an error page.

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Here's one of their patents they are suing by. Must be a joke: http://www.google.com/patents/US7620565
Pres. Obama, if you're going to regain any of the respect you've lost from me, you know what to do.
 
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1984

1984

macrumors 6502a
Jan 1, 2005
616
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It's pretty clear after several years of hearing about this Eastern Texas Court giving consistent rulings in favor of the patent trolls that they are corrupt so why isn't anything being done about it? Patent trolls always file there because they know they will always win there. Every time there is an article there it is, like clockwork. :confused:
 
AT06

AT06

macrumors 6502
Dec 30, 2012
312
4
Winwick, UK
Surely in-app purchases are so common place now that these 'patents' just can't be enforced.

Patent trolls like Lodsys shouldn't be allowed to keep patents like these unless they have their own product or service that is being seriously affected. Patents that threaten natural growth in the industry shouldn't be allowed to stand.
 
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Pyrrhic Victory

macrumors regular
Feb 6, 2012
152
0
I love how people argue that without patents, nobody would invent anything. Because nobody ever invented anything before patent offices started sprouting up, right?

The whole system is one giant waste of time. Intellectual property doesn't exist. You can't own something that you can't define with objective criteria. Inventing something shouldn't require a slew of lawyers. All that does is make people less productive. Don't want somebody selling "your" product that you invented? Lock in your customers with long-term contracts with escalators. Be creative. Making a law to entitle people to something that doesn't exist is the most backwards idea I've ever heard.
 
M

MacMilligan

macrumors 6502
Aug 2, 2012
255
8
I hope Apple puts together a fund for developers that get slapped with a suit. If the judge won't hear Apple directly, then throw $10M and a stack of lawyers in the ring when Lodsys attacks a dev. Get these patents invalidated once and for all.
 
9

9000

macrumors 6502a
Sep 29, 2013
519
0
Hyrule
Pyrrhic Victory said:
I love how people argue that without patents, nobody would invent anything. Because nobody ever invented anything before patent offices started sprouting up, right?

The whole system is one giant waste of time. Intellectual property doesn't exist. You can't own something that you can't define with objective criteria. Inventing something shouldn't require a slew of lawyers. All that does is make people less productive. Don't want somebody selling "your" product that you invented? Lock in your customers with long-term contracts with escalators. Be creative. Making a law to entitle people to something that doesn't exist is the most backwards idea I've ever heard.
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Innovation was slower. Patents were around near the beginning of the US as an independent nation but also existed in late medieval / renaissance times. If you have an alternative solution, provide it, but using contracts won't work. If someone invented something with no patent and tried to use that idea, it would be copied by a big company instantly and sold.

You know what else "doesn't exist"? Money in digital form.
 
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Pyrrhic Victory

macrumors regular
Feb 6, 2012
152
0
9000 said:
That's pretty close to true.
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Never taken a history class in your life, eh?

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9000 said:
Innovation was slower. Patents were around near the beginning of the US as an independent nation but also existed in late medieval / renaissance times.
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Oh yeah I can just imagine Jobs saying "Why should I invent personal computers? Mean old Gates will just corner the market by selling them for half price and I won't make a dime!"

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9000 said:
You know what else "doesn't exist"? Money in digital form.
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Wrong. Digital files can be defined objectively.
 
9

9000

macrumors 6502a
Sep 29, 2013
519
0
Hyrule
Pyrrhic Victory said:
Wrong. Digital files can be defined objectively.
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So can patented ideas. You have a whole essay to write on the idea to make the patent.

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Pyrrhic Victory said:
Never taken a history class in your life, eh?
Click to expand...

...
Yes, I have. When was there innovation comparable to the times when patents were used? You're obviously seeing the worst of them right here, Lodsys's BS patents.
 
P

Pyrrhic Victory

macrumors regular
Feb 6, 2012
152
0
9000 said:
So can patents. You have a whole essay to write on the idea.
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LOL you're make a totally false comparison. Patents aren't inventions. Products are inventions. Actual things that have measurable definition, be it physical or digital.
9000 said:
No, you haven't. Oh gee, the Chinese were so creative. It only took them a few thousand years to make all their inventions.
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Oh yeah, because if they had been smart enough to have a patent system, they would have been cranking out semiconductors long ago, right?[/quote]
 
nagromme

nagromme

macrumors G5
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
And this is the difference between companies who actually MAKE stuff hurting each others' feelings by patenting that stuff... and true patent trolls who make nothing and are simply extortionists. Especially extorting the little 1- and 2-person home developers: so much easier (meaning: possible) to pay Lodsys a share of all your measly profits than to buy a more expensive lawyer team than theirs, and then lose anyway thanks to Texas! Lodsys is a protection racket, pure and simple.

But I hear Martha Stewart may have turned her great Eye on them...
 
P

Pyrrhic Victory

macrumors regular
Feb 6, 2012
152
0
9000 said:
Yeah, I mistyped and edited that.
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You're acting like the patent system is the only variable between the rate of invention five thousand years ago and the current rate of invention. Do you honestly expect anyone to believe that?
 
Solomani

Solomani

macrumors 601
Sep 25, 2012
4,785
10,477
Slapfish, North Carolina
bjsterilite said:
Is there any chance or way for The President to intervene in favor of Apple? I feel like after blocking the ban on iPhones before seemed to suggest The President played favorites.
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Doubtful that the POTUS can intervene in this case. What he can do, he is already attempting to do... which is to propose legislation that will make things harder for patent trolling in the future.

I hope that Apple/Google and others appeal this overturn/ruling, and it eventually makes it for the Supreme Court to deliberate. Only then will we see real action to reform patents.
 
W

wikiverse

macrumors 6502a
Sep 13, 2012
689
952
macbeta said:
I wish big company's like apple would take a stance against software patents, until they stop doing it themselves, there is always going to be fodder for trolls.
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Apple are sue-happy patent trolls themselves so it's unlikely.

Let's not forget the 'A touchscreen tap is a zero-length swipe' nonsense Apple was throwing around a few years ago.

True patent reform is needed to stop all of the craziness - even Apple's.
 
goobot

goobot

macrumors 603
Jun 26, 2009
6,484
4,375
long island NY
Pyrrhic Victory said:
I love how people argue that without patents, nobody would invent anything. Because nobody ever invented anything before patent offices started sprouting up, right?

The whole system is one giant waste of time. Intellectual property doesn't exist. You can't own something that you can't define with objective criteria. Inventing something shouldn't require a slew of lawyers. All that does is make people less productive. Don't want somebody selling "your" product that you invented? Lock in your customers with long-term contracts with escalators. Be creative. Making a law to entitle people to something that doesn't exist is the most backwards idea I've ever heard.
Click to expand...

Haha, no. What happens when a normal person like you or I slave away at something that no one else would have been able to do only for a huge company to say " o hey that cool, lets copy it and slap our sticker on it!"?
 
P

pavinder

macrumors regular
Jan 16, 2009
155
98
9000 said:
]Here's one of their patents they are suing by. Must be a joke: http://www.google.com/patents/US7620565
Click to expand...

How can anyone justify a patent on a concept without any implementation?

Does this really mean that anybody can conceive anything (including broad general concepts) which may possibly exist in the future (even if it cannot yet be created with today's technology) and then patent it? Ridiculous.
 
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