Apple Steps Up in Lodsys Lawsuits, Files Motion to Intervene

[MacRumors]

FOSS Patents reports that Apple has filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuits Lodsys has filed against seven iOS developers.

Apple Inc. ("Apple") hereby respectfully moves to intervene as a defendant and counterclaim plaintiff in the above-captioned action brought by plaintiff Lodsys, LLC ("Lodsys") against seven software application developers (collectively, "Developers"), forallegedly infringing U.S. Patent Nos. 7,222,078 (the "078 patent") and 7,620,565 (the "565 patent" and, collectively, the "patents in suit"). Apple seeks to intervene because it is expresslyl icensed to provide to the Developers products and services that embody the patents in suit, free from claims of infringement of those patents.

With the move, Apple is trying to interject itself in the lawsuits that it has otherwise not been a participant in. FOSS Patents believes its likely that Apple will be allowed in, though Lodsys can oppose the motion.

Also, while there's been no public confirmation, the site believes its likely that Apple has agreed to cover the defendant's costs and potential risks as "it's hard to imagine how else this could work."

Apple states explicitly that the sued app developers are "are individuals or small entities with far fewer resources than Apple and [...] lack the technical information, ability, and incentive to adequately protect Apple's rights under its license agreement."

Overall, it's good news for the developers affected by the lawsuit, but is still just the beginning of the process.

Article Link: Apple Steps Up in Lodsys Lawsuits, Files Motion to Intervene

 

[BigPrince]

wow....talk about Apple stepping up to the plate to protect the environment!

 

[ComputersaysNo]

What's that noise i hear? It sounds like charging a deathray or something. Oh well, just another day at Lodsys'office, nothing to worry about i guess.

 

[jazzkids]

It is nice to hear the Apple will be supporting the development community. I'm wondering how the ruling in the patent lawsuit with microsoft will affect this case too?

Good job Apple!

 

[sillypooh]

Bold move. I don't know many software (platform) companies who would have done that. The giant has a heart, protecting the villagers!

Not that the company had real choice here. Not doing so would have tarnished its reputation and viability of the platform. But still, it's cool, or smart, from their part.

 

[Detlev]

Yeah! This is so like the starship Enterprise coming out of nowhere and blasting a Romulan ship to smithereens. Way to go Apple!

 

[uaecasher]

nice move from apple.

 

[padapada]

Yeah! This is so like the starship Enterprise coming out of nowhere and blasting a Romulan ship to smithereens. Way to go Apple!

Burn the Lodsys MF's!

 

[KnightWRX]

I'm wondering how the ruling in the patent lawsuit with microsoft will affect this case too?

That case is completely different. If you followed i4i vs Microsoft, you'd know i4i is not a patent troll. They had been partners with Microsoft when building the technology and they were mostly responsible for it hence why they hold the patent on it. Before the project ended, Microsoft cut all ties, dumped i4i and implemented the technology themselves into Office without giving i4i any credit or compensation.

Microsoft got what they deserved in that case. Not to mention the whole hypocrisy of "patents are bad! See what i4i did to us ?" and then turning around and suing tons of other players for patents and threatening Linux with veiled "Linux might infringe some of our patents you know!" comments.

Please don't compare i4i to a simple patent troll.

 

[ChristianVirtual]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

The sheapard protect the sheeps from the wolf ... Hope no sheep gets lost

 

[SteveAbootman]

This is excellent news. I wonder how much the presumed closed door talks at WWDC may have influenced this decision (or at the very least expedited Apple's action)

 

[KnightWRX]

This is excellent news. I wonder how much the presumed closed door talks at WWDC may have influenced this decision (or at the very least expedited Apple's action)

You don't take legal action of the sort based on talks that happened a few days prior. This move is calculated by Apple's legal team and they have been preparing for this scenario for quite a while if they filed this today.

Of course, anyone thinking this has blindsided Lodsys is being naive. Lodsys are probably as prepared for this as they were for Apple's "letter". They are asserting that Apple's license doesn't cover 3rd party developers, they didn't just invent that. This is a calculated move on their part since the beginning.

Now it remains to see which side the courts will pick as the one being right or wrong.

 

[Otaviano]

Good on them, hope the run these patent trolls into the ground.

 

[eric_n_dfw]

Put down your lawsuits and step away...

... you have 10 seconds to comply.

(above image blatantly deep-linked from http://www.markwu.info/miniblog/entry/website_designs_for_scifis_evil_corporations , please give them some hits! )

 

[Pentad]

I hate Software Patents but way to go Apple! I am glad to see them defending App Developers.

Maybe Google and Microsoft should get on-board as well?

 

[gnasher729]

It is nice to hear the Apple will be supporting the development community. I'm wondering how the ruling in the patent lawsuit with microsoft will affect this case too?

Not at all. Microsoft tried to make it easier to invalidate patents. Apple has a fully paid license to these patents, so it doesn't matter to Apple whether the patents are valid or not, and all the actions that are done that might be infringing the patents are done by Apple, which is fully licensed, and not by the developers. So Apple won't argue about these patents being valid, unless their lawyers find a way to make it expensive for Lodsys to handle this in court. Apple argues that their license allows them to implement these patents in their operating systems, and on their servers, and any developer can use Apple's OS and Apple's servers without needing a license.

 

[0815]

Any word if Google is also stepping up for the Android developer that is effected by this law suit? Was there a public statement by google?

 

[Popeye206]

Yeah! This is so like the starship Enterprise coming out of nowhere and blasting a Romulan ship to smithereens. Way to go Apple!

LOL! Good one!

Good for Apple!

 

[Thunderhawks]

[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


FOSS Patents reports that Apple has filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuits Lodsys has filed against seven iOS developers. With the move, Apple is trying to interject itself in the lawsuits that it has otherwise not been a participant in. FOSS Patents believes its likely that Apple will be allowed in, though Lodsys can oppose the motion.

Also, while there's been no public confirmation, the site believes its likely that Apple has agreed to cover the defendant's costs and potential risks as "it's hard to imagine how else this could work."Overall, it's good news for the developers affected by the lawsuit, but is still just the beginning of the process.

Article Link: Apple Steps Up in Lodsys Lawsuits, Files Motion to Intervene

Because of the way the American legal system works in the very end Lodsys will see money, either to go away or to be done with this lawsuit.

By Apple suing Lodsys will get less than they anticipated, but they will get $$$

 

[0815]

Apple stepping up in this is a win-win.

iOS Developers win: they know that they get protection from **** like this
Apple win: (small) Developers won't jump the ship out of fear

The success of iOS was based on lots and lots of indie Developers - the bigger names came much later in the game. Nice to see that Apple protects them (by now, Apple could do with the big names only - but still make lots of money with indie Developers)

 

[rkmac]

Good to see Apple helping out. Can't wait to see Lodsys regret the day the decided to take on Apple. Sadly, this being a legal dispute, I'll probably be waiting a while.

 

[ciaocibai]

Full credit to Apple for stepping up to the plate here. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

I do kind of wonder, since they get a 30% cut of in app purchases, surely they are entitled to be in the lawsuit?...

 

[Popeye206]

Any word if Google is also stepping up for the Android developer that is effected by this law suit? Was there a public statement by google?

Doing a quick search, it looks like Google is sitting back and letting Apple fight this battle.

It's sad if Google does not join in and defend the developers too.

 

[tbobmccoy]

Because of the way the American legal system works in the very end Lodsys will see money, either to go away or to be done with this lawsuit.

By Apple suing Lodsys will get less than they anticipated, but they will get $$$

This is only true if Apple ends with a beneficial settlement for Lodsys. Granted, most lawsuits end in settlement instead of judgment by a jury or judge, but just wanted to point out that it's not definite that Lodsys will get a payday from this.

 

[KnightWRX]

Doing a quick search, it looks like Google is sitting back and letting Apple fight this battle.

It's sad if Google does not join in and defend the developers too.

Compared to iOS developers, there have been very few Android developers hit with letters, and I think none yet with lawsuits. Also, it would remain to be seen whether or not the Android developers that received letters even use Google's In-App billing framework, which is completely optional on Android.

At this point, Google might not even have a leg to stand on to come into the battle. Don't judge them, the situation is quite different for them than it is with Apple.