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Lodsys drops patent suit against developer in exchange for mutual charity donation

Lodsys, an intellectual property owner infamous for filing patent infringement lawsuits against iOS app developers, has settled with one company in exchange for a charity donation.

The terms of the detail made between Lodsys and TMSoft were detailed on the developer's blog on Thursday by company founder Todd Moore. No confidentiality agreement was signed, so TMSoft is free to talk about the terms of the settlement.

In addition to agreeing to donate to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the developer was also required to agree to never sue Lodsys over its patents, and dismiss all motions in its ongoing lawsuit with prejudice. TMSoft had filed a motion to dismiss the patent suit Lodsys filed against them, and also sough to recover costs associated with the suit.

The attorney for TMSoft speculated that Lodsys made the offer because if the developer had declined it, a judge may have found that Moore's company "were not behaving reasonably."

"This seems a little ridiculous given they were the ones that filed this frivolous lawsuit," Moore said. "But, I get the point that Lodsys could say to the judge that they were willing to dismiss it if only I'd made a small donation to a charity. This would be their way of making me look like I was the on wasting the court's time."

Lodsys first began filing lawsuits against iOS developers using Apple's in-app purchase feature in 2011. The suits prompted Apple to attempt to intervene on behalf of its development community.

But the legal action spurred a number of developers to settle out of court by agreeing to licensing deals with Lodsys, ending the lawsuits and allowing them to continue to offer in-app purchases. Though Lodsys started with smaller developers, it moved on to bigger companies like Electronics Arts and Disney.