“Compared to the forceful action some other companies have recently taken against Lodsys, Google’s failure to act is a shame and Apple’s measures (a letter to Lodsys and a motion for an intervention) appear rather half-hearted so far, if not anemic,” Florian Mueller writes for FOSS Patents.
“Apple just says it has a valid contract but neither challenges the validity of Lodsys’s patents nor the infringement claim that Lodsys makes,” Mueller writes. “By contrast, ForeSee Results filed a declaratory judgment action against Lodsys in Chicago and now has a pretty good chance of being able to transfer Lodsys’s allegations against its customers adidas and Best Buy out of East Texas. ForeSee is much smaller than Apple and Google but appears to take better care of its customers in this particular context.”
Mueller writes, “I have thought about this a lot recently and I discussed it with lawyers working for major firms who frequently assist clients in such license deals. None of the attorneys I talked to knows the language of the license agreement Apple and Google signed with Intellectual Ventures while the four patents later acquired by Lodsys belonged to that entity. But they and I concur that it’s highly likely that Apple and Google are contractually precluded from challenging Lodsys’s patents because such license agreements often come with clauses under which a licensee will lose a license once he participates in an effort to invalidate any of the related patents (in addition to possibly having to pay contractual penalties).”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
Related articles:
The New York Times Company and OpinionLab sue Lodsys – June 14, 2011
All four Lodsys patents now also challenged in Southern California AV software maker ESET – June 13, 2011
Apple enters legal fray against Lodsys, files motion to intervene – June 10, 2011
New lawsuit may render Lodsys in-app purchase patents invalid – June 8, 2011
Lodsys sues 7 app developers in Eastern Texas; Mac and Android devs also targeted – May 31, 2011
Lodsys also threatens Android developers with legal action over in-app purchases – May 27, 2011
Full text: Apple Legal’s letter to Lodsys – May 23, 2011
Apple: iOS developers already licensed for Lodsys patents – May 23, 2011
EFF calls on to Apple defend iOS developers in Lodsys legal threats – May 21, 2011
Following Lodsys legal threats, Apple reportedly stops approving iOS apps with In-App Purchases – May 18, 2011
Lodsys defends legal threats: Apple is licensed, iOS developers are not – May 16, 2011
Lodsys threatens Apple App Store devs with lawsuit over In-App Purchases – May 13, 2011