Taking a break from the news today and will continue on Sunday. Samsung wants to see upcoming Apple prototype. Microsoft is profiting from Android.
Lodsys also threatens Android Developers over patent. Google, it’s your move.
After gaining a lot of attention for sending lawsuit threat to numbers of iOS Developers, Lodsys is also going after Android Developers over in-app purchasing patent. Lodsys in its Q&A blog explained why its going after individual developers but not Apple, Google and Microsoft; that’s because the three companies have already licensed the four patents in question.
On May 23rd, 2011 Apple Legal sent a letter to Lodsys stating that Apple is licensed to all four patents in the Lodsys portfolio. Any iOS Applications published in iTunes App Store are essentially covered by the license.
Android Developers are hoping Google to do the same with what Apple did for its Developers.
Anecdote and Antidote: That’s not an iPad
A client told me: “My husband bought me an iPad from Verizon. The smaller iPad.” I told her that there is no “smaller” iPad, and it turned out to be a Samsung Galaxy Tab.
Verizon Stores do sell iPad, they just don’t have them in stock. Apparently the salesperson sold the Samsung Galaxy Tab as “small” iPad. I guess the salesperson really needs to fill the sales quota.
Apple Defends iOS Developers Against Threats From Lodsys.
“Good News iOS Developers!”
Actually it is good news for a lot more than iOS Developers. Apple has finally spoken out against Lodsys for threatening iOS Developers over some licensing issues.. MacWorld published the full text of the letter Apple Legal sent to Lodsys regarding its patent dispute with app developers.
Apple certainly took the time to review the matter, 10 days after Lodsys sent patent lawsuit threat to iOS Developers (Friday May the 13th, 2011). John Gruber of Daring Fireball seems to think that Apple is doing the right thing by carefully reviewing the matter and preparing an appropriate response.
This would be an interesting case to follow since Apple already licensed the patents in question from Lodsys.
First, Apple is licensed to all four of the patents in the Lodsys portfolio. As Lodsys itself advertises on its website, “Apple is licensed for its nameplate products and services.” See http://www.lodsys.com/blog.html (emphasis in original). Under its license, Apple is entitled to offer these licensed products and services to its customers and business partners, who, in turn, have the right to use them.
It would be interesting to know when Apple become licensed to Lodsys’ four patents; as Google and Microsoft do. Did Lodsys reach out to Apple, Google and Microsoft after iOS, Android and WP7 were released? How significant are these fours patents in the Lodsys portfolio?
It would be an even more interesting development if Apple, possibly joined by Google and Microsoft would seek to invalidate Lodsys’s patents in question.
If Lodsys were to prevail in their threats, it would set a scary precedence for Developers; Android, iOS and WP7.
WordPress 2.8 for iOS.
WordPress 2.8 for iOS is now available at iTunes App Store.
New features:
- Quick Photo button: only available on iPhone for now.
- Stats
- Added translations to Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Bosnian, Hebrew, German, Dutch, French and Croatian.
WordPress for iOS now has Stats feature just like its Android counterpart.
In addition to that, WordPress 2.8 for iOS could be the last version that supports iOS 3.x.
Can we cross the bridge now?
Lodsys explains why it’s not after Apple but only the developers for In-App Purchasing. Apple is licensed to use their patent, as a matter of fact both Google and Microsoft are also licensed.
Lodys sets the licensing fees:
Lodsys is seeking 0.575% of US revenue over for the period of the notice letter to the expiration of the patent, plus applicable past usage. So on an application that sells US$1m worth of sales in a year, the licensee would have an economic exposure of $5,750 per year.
Lodsys also mentions that it has been getting a lot of hate mails including some death threats.
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Related articles:
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so Apple, Google and Microsoft can cross the bridge, but not people who are riding with them?
This is what the iPad Auto-Correction thinks of Lodsys:
Rage Against Patent Troll.
On Friday May 13th, 2011 some iOS App Developers revealed that they are being sued by Lodsys for In-App Purchases and Upgrade Links. This lawsuit baffles many developers since Developers are using API in iOS SDK provided by Apple for In-App Purchasing. Lodsys so far is suing the Developers, but not Apple.
Adam C. Engst provided a great analysis on the matter.
It’s entirely unclear why Lodsys has chosen this approach — their lawyers have undoubtedly read the iOS Developer Program License Agreement and know that the iOS developers can’t settle. And they’ve chosen such small targets that there’s no way they could even cover their legal fees with what they could squeeze out. The only strategy that makes sense is that by targeting small developers, they put additional pressure on Apple to settle quickly.
Apple should respond to this lawsuit even though it is not yet directed at them.
In the meantime, this is what the iPad think about Lodsys:
That makes a lot of sense.