Sam Oliver
Developers were first sent legal complaints this week accusing them of patent infringement, according to TUAW. Developers have not yet been sued, but were informed that they have 21 days to license technology related to in-app purchases.
The maker of "PCalc Lite," James Thomson, as well as Chicago-based developer Patrick McCarron were both sent letters via FedEx claiming patent infringement related to iOS software.
The complaints stem from patent holding firm Lodsys, and are related to U.S. Patent No. 7222078, entitled "Methods and Systems for Gathering Information from Units of a Commodity Across a Network, MacRumors discovered on Friday. The original patent was filed in December 2003, but dates back through continuations to earlier applications as old as 1992.
The invention is credited to Dan Abelow, though his portfolio of patents were sold to Lodsys in 2004. It is Lodsys that has threatened legal action against iOS developers.
So far, there is no evidence that Apple has been targeted in the complaints sent out. Apple controls the App Store for iOS devices, including the iPhone and iPad, as well as the in-app purchasing protocol.
In-app purchases were first introduced in 2009, when Apple release iOS 3.0 for the iPhone. Though the feature was initially restricted to pay software, later that year Apple granted creators of free applications the ability to charge for add-ons and additional content.
Just like purchases made directly through the App Store, in-app purchases are charged by Apple to a user's iTunes account. Apple takes a 30 percent cut of all transactions made for software on iOS devices.
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44 Comments
Doesn't this seem a big odd? Going after the developer? Wowzer. Probably due to the fact they know legal action with the smaller people would be less of a struggle than dealing with apple and their billions?
So odd.
Damn, can Apple do anything nowadays without being sued?
I know the story says there isn't any evidence so far that Apple has been sued for this, but I guarantee they have been.
I wonder how generic those systems for data collection are. If the patent is one of those mindless ones where they describe something obvious which gets thrown out of court, then this company may just be trying to scare developers into submission, knowing that Apple would kick their asses.
I hate these patent sitters and the lame patent office that doesn't understand IT or what is and is not innovation.
This is obviously an extortion racket, with the "patent holder" going after app developers rather than Apple with the expectation that they'll be able to force them to pay for licensing to avoid the legal costs.
Damn, can Apple do anything nowadays without being sued?
I know the story says there isn't any evidence so far that Apple has been sued for this, but I guarantee they have been.
Guarantee? How?
It's likely a deliberate strategy to go after developers and not Apple. Pretty smart