Angry Birds-maker Rovio is the most recent target in Lodsys' patent trolling disputes. Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
The mighty hand of Lodsys, a patent firm suing mobile app programmers, continues to come down on iOS and Android developers. Now it’s targeting a major and much-beloved player: Angry Birds.
In the lawsuit, Lodsys claims Rovio has infringed upon “at least claim 27” of their patent, which covers in-app billing technology. Lodsys wants 0.575 percent of any U.S. revenue obtained using the technology.
The lawsuit currently extends to 11 other defendants, including big league app developers like Electronic Arts, Atari, and Square Enix.
Lodsys began sending letters to iOS app developers in early May for including an “upgrade” button or allowing users to make purchases within the app using Apple’s in-app billing infrastructure.
Patent disputes are common among large technology corporations fighting to defend their intellectual property, including Apple, Google and Microsoft. However, it’s rare to see a small patent firm such as Lodsys go on a lawsuit spree against a laundry list of companies big and small.
Lodsys explained the reasoning for their actions in a blog post to Apple: “The scope of [Apple’s] current licenses does NOT enable them to provide ‘pixie dust’ to bless another (3rd party) business applications [sic],” Lodsys wrote. “From Lodsys’ perspective, it is seeking to be paid value for rights it holds and which are being used by others.”
Apple supported its developers with an official response from its general counsel Bruce Sewell (.pdf). In it he says, “Apple is undisputedly licensed to these patent and the Apple App Makers are protected by that license. Apple intends to share this letter and the information set out herein with its App Makers and is fully prepared to defend Apple’s license rights.”
The Texas-based Lodsys recently began filing lawsuits against Android developers for violating their patents, as well.
Many developers have responded to the company’s patent trolling by removing the offending features of their app (the in-app purchasing ability) or just plain removing their app from the market entirely.
The EFF explains that the patent system is intended to support innovation, but in instances such as this, it’s doing the opposite.
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