Apple steps in to defend IOS developers against Lodsys

FLOGGER OF SHINY TOYS Apple filed a motion to intervene in the ongoing legal battle between IOS developers and Lodsys.

Last month Lodsys sent threatening letters to IOS developers alleging that they had infringed its patents on in-app purchases. Apple claimed that it has licensed Lodsys' technology and that Apple's App developers are covered by that license. That sent Lodsys over the edge, with the firm filing lawsuits against not only IOS developers but Mac OS X and even Android developers.

Now Apple has stepped in, claiming it has a right to intervene because "Apple has a license to those very same patents. The value of this license to Apple here lies in Apple's ability, pursuant to the express terms of the license, to offer products and services embodying the patents in suit to the Developers, in return for the Developers' agreement to pay Apple a percentage of their sales made using Apple's products and services. The Developers, in turn, are able to use the products and services Apple provides to them free from claims of infringement of the patents in suit under the doctrines of exhaustion and first sale."

Apple directly countered evidence provided by Lodsys' filing, with one reference citing, "in each case, even under Lodsys's own infringement theories, Lodsys's allegations rest substantially or entirely on Apple products and services licensed under Apple's License, not on algorithms or content provided by the Developers themselves".

Apple's motion to intervene is a long one and well worth reading because the repercussions go well beyond Apple and IOS. Microsoft, for instance, made it a big deal that Windows Phone 7 developers would not suffer precisely this sort of litigation by paying a licensing fee to Microsoft. As IOS developers point out, they have to pay a license fee to Apple in order to develop applications, so while Apple hasn't been named in the lawsuit, Lodsys is effectively going after Apple with its lawsuits against IOS developers.

Google, Microsoft and many other software licensing firms will be looking at whether Apple can defend its license holders against Lodsys. If it can't, then a chilling effect might descend on innovation in the mobile software market, and we might be in line for a major overhaul of applications software developer licensing agreements. µ