Got a letter from Lodsys few weeks ago, claiming the "Get Full Version" link in our game iFighter 1945 is infringing their patent. The "Get Full Version" link is actually for the purchase of Super Laser: The Alien Fighter. This is just a "cross promotion" and I think almost every developer is doing it. It's neither an In-App purchase nor a "Lite to Full" conversion. I wrote back and explained the situation to Lodsys and guess what I got from them this morning: This is just insane!!! I can't believe it! So if they make the patent description as vague as possible, they can interpret it in anyway they like? I'm totally shocked
Imagine the hell that kid must have gone through in middle and high school.....thats probably why he wanted a career in law
Now that Apple has intervened in relation to some of the Lodsys lawsuits, I think you would do best to contact Apple to take advice. Hopefully, if they're on the case, you won't have to spend cash on instructing your own solicitors. If you negotiate directly with Lodsys at this stage, you could not only complicate things for yourself, but also for other developers caught up in this mess.
Seriously... Harry Snodgrass?? Are we absolutely sure he's not some Nigerian scammer? But yea, contact Apple's legal department and apprise them of the situation. Hopefully they can advise you on what to do next.
What's fishy in this situation is you can't measure the cross promotion regarding revenue for taking a license. Some of their - how you call them in the US ? - patents - are running out in April 2012. Contact Apple.
I have a patent for 'use of images, words or any other suggestive method that may encourage a user to possibly at some stage think about purchasing an application on a mobile electronic device'. So if you have an icon for your app i demand that you pay me 1% of your revenue to license my patent. Are we all agreed?
I have a patent entitled 'a process, mechanism, or action that invokes a consequence or reaction that is of an equal and or opposite magnitude to the initial action ' so I win. When is my paycheque coming?
As people have already said, contact the Apple legal department and appraise them of what's going on. I'd also have a good read of these two articles: http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2011/07/app-developers-targeted-by-trolls-are.html http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2011/07/cost-efficient-way-for-app-developers.html The basic gist of it is, unless Apple step up and take on your legal costs you will not be able to afford to fight Lodsys in the courts.
I believe the email is legitimate. His email contact is [email protected]. His email signature is: Harry Snodgrass Licensing Agent Lodsys, LLC 505 East Travis Street Suite 207 Marshall, TX 75670 United States 903-472-5338 And also, the first person from Lodsys who contacted us was the CEO: Mark Small CEO Lodsys LLC 903.935.3202 [email protected] He actually sent an express mail using Fedex to our Hong Kong office.
Another quick update: We contacted Apple's representative in the Asia Pacific area and was told that Apple could take care of the IAP related stuff with Lodsys only. There are similar cases like ours reported by other developers too. Since we're just putting buttons with URL and not using any Apple's API, this mechanism is not covered by Apple. Basically we are on our own to handle the matter and the suggestion was to remove the URL to be on the safe side
Haha... Snodgrass. Tell them they can't patent a link, which is what it is, no? Freaking Snodgrass... man.
That fosspatents blog sums up the situation well. You can either give in to the extortion by paying for a licence or remove the link. The cost of arguing the point in court will be huge, even if you win. Leave it to the big boys to fight Lodsys - eventually they will be beaten.
"I trust that this has clarified the matter" What???!!! I'm more confused than I was before reading his lawyer-speak diatribe. How Lodsys got an enforceable patents for something so basic is astonishing. These patent trolls need to be stopped.
Maybe one should consult an attorney. Mueller is not an attorney and taking his advice could be legally dangerous.
What Lodsys are doing is nothing short of mafia-style extortion, ie 'pay up or you'll be sorry'. It particularly pisses me off because it's obvious to everyone that their patent should not be enforceable but the cost of going to court to have that confirmed is prohibitive. I certainly hope they get what's coming to them. @Deth4U2 - Good point. But I'm a lawyer & there's no cheap, risk-free way of fighting this.