Engadget: “Though it’s very unlikely that Cupertino won’t offer assistance, devs will also be able to turn to EFF for advice, where they may even be paired with pro bono patent attorneys. Besides offering this bit of good news, Samuels was able to help us dig deeper into Lodsys, and the dirty business of patent suits.”
Well, there’s a bit of a silver lining, I think.
Lodsys: “No, that’s not what’s happening. Apple is licensed for its nameplate products and services.”
The bottom line. If you’re an iOS developer using In App Purchase, or IAP, you should remove it immediately and remove any links that take users of your FREE version to the App Store, apparently a simple button is enough to get a letter.
SLIME BALLS.
The good new is Lawyers like this burn in hell, they really do. There’s a special placed reserved for them. They’ll get theirs.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. –
H. G. Bohn, 1855
Lodsys: “There are lots of bills in life that it would be preferable to not pay if one didn’t have to. Lodsys is just trying to get value for assets that it owns, just like each and every company selling products or services is, trying to do business and make a profit. Its odd that some of the companies that received notices had such a visceral reaction. Some of these companies have our favorite apps, for which we paid the asking price. We realize you have to get paid for your work and so do we.”
The Troll responds.
Their extortion fee is 0.575%.
What’s really bogus about this is they’re looking to shake out fees for “past usage.” Even if they could collect today it’s not very nice to turn someone upside down and shake them until coins fall from their pockets.
Our patent system1 is completely busted. Like in this case. There’s a guy sitting somewhere trying to collect fees for doing NOTHING. Oh, sure, the shell company bought a patent from someone else, but they didn’t actually do the inventing. He’s probably an ex divorce lawyer or used car salesman. I’m sure there are many fine folks in East Texas, but why would you want to share where you live with vermin like this?
1. Disclaimer: I’m actually a co-author on a patent. I also asked to be removed from other patents, after this one, because I believe they’re not used the way they were intended.
It’s a beautiful day here in San Luis Obispo, the sun is out and there’s a cool breeze blowing, but there’s something bad afoot in the iOS Development world.
As of this writing two Indie iOS Developers, James Thomson and Patrick McCarron, have been hit with patent infringement papers. The really strange thing is they’re going after the developers, not Apple. In app purchase seems to be what triggered the threat.
From Twitter
Hopefully Apple will step in and help them out.
BNET: “Trademark Office, under its new director, David Kappos, has finally begun to seriously address transparency of information with a new data visualization dashboard. The big lesson? As a number of people who watch the organization have thought, for years — years — the USPTO has blown smoke and lived in a world of denial and obfuscation.”
Whoops. That’s about all that can be said.