“According to a new report, Apple has transferred some of its patents to patent-licensing firm Digitude Innovations, prompting accusations that the company is aiding a so-called ‘patent troll,'” Josh Ong reports for AppleInsider.
“Digitude Innovations filed suit against a slew of tech giants this week, including Research in Motion, HTC, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Sony, Amazon and Nokia. Apple was noticeably absent from the list,” Ong reports. “Further investigation by TechCrunch revealed that two of the patents wielded in the lawsuit had belonged to Apple earlier this year. The report noted that documents had been uncovered confirming a license agreement between Apple and Digitude, though the actual details of the agreement were not available to the public.”
Ong reports, “Though it’s not completely clear whether Apple has entered into a more formal agreement with Digitude beyond a licensing agreement, [report author Jason Kincaid] offered several plausible scenarios for its relationship with the company. According to him, Apple could be using Digitude as a ‘hired gun’ in its patent battles. However, he did point out that Apple not hesitated to sue its competitors outright when it felt its intellectual property was being infringed on. Alternatively, Apple may have traded its patents to Digitude as part of a settlement. Kincaid noted that this scenario ‘seems more likely,’ while noting that it was hard to see Apple in a ‘positive light’ if that was the case.”
Read more in the full article here.
AAPL doesn’t benefit from patent trolling, so this is all speculative. Given their PSTRY approach to patent use and licensing, there’s clearly something going on here that none of us are aware of.
Agree, this story is cheap tabloid nonsense.
Settlement that would include patents exchange/cross-license would be the only reasonable explanation. Since Apple runs directly hundreds of trials there would no sense to all of sudden use third party company to file another few lawsuits.
Clearly you cannot compare AAPL’s strategy to the ORNJ strategy employed by many other technology companies. Anyone visiting MDN should know that patent trolls love CNDY settlements from those they shake down.
…couldn’t happen to nicer folks.
krquet… I’m not sure which is worse… a lowly patent troll, or the even lower MDN troll??
Nah, that’s easy.
• A patent troll is a blood-sucking leech on the hindquarters of innovation
• An MDN troll is a mosquito
Nice story. If, I mean, when google does the exact same thing (if they get patents worth trolling) it’ll be reported as good for consumers and the ‘open’ source community.
Frickin Double Standards are getting ridiculous.
Agreed as above stated. There is probably legal maneuvering going on here that nobody knows about.
With how much repect the courts in this country are showing Apple, what’s their intellectual property worth anyway? If it’s going to take 2 years or more to get shit on by a judge – with your competition gleefully selling counterfeit knock-offs of your products the whole time – what possible value could all that work have?
I hope Apple’s contribution helps to create a legal phalanx that grind the patent system in this country to a halt. Maybe then people will wake up to how broken and anti-innovation the system is.
Google does the exact same thing and the press commends them for being tricky dicky clever and standing up for the HTCs and Samsungs and anyone else ripping Apple off. What’s wrong with the fucking press?
Apple has two kinds of IP opponents: patent trolls, and competitors. Why not license IP copied by the competitors to the hoards of Digitudes-type companies out there, effectively unleashing an army of trolls against their competitors?
Effectively, Apple is turning one of its opponent groups against the other, and getting paid to do it in the process. Brilliant, as usual…
Apple has to contend with judges who heed competitors’ constant argument that strict enforcement of Apple’s patents will yield a monopoly, and with juries who favor the little company versus the bigger one. We have recently seen Apple’s IP protection undermined by courtroom bias, thereby rewarding theft and mediocrity while handicapping genius. If it takes a patent troll to hold the thieves and rats at bay, then I’m all for it.
And therein lies the problem. Monopolies are not illegal. Second, these cases should be judged on their technical merits – are the patents valid and are the allegations of infringement valid?
The fact that Apple came up with some great stuff that is dominating the market (as demonstrated by the fact that everyone is trying to copy its products down to the very details of trade dress) is not a reason to legitimize the IP theft.
“Monopolies are not illegal” ???
What the hell are you smoking?
Yes, monopolies are not illegal. For all those self-labeled pundits, let me repeat, monopolies are not illegal. It is only when a monopoly abuses their power to maintain their monopoly that they are illegal.
It’s time for Apple to tie up “Google’s penis & nuts” and squeeze hard until they pop.
my 2 cents…
Since corporations are people, it should be possible to do so. And how about paternity lawsuits for corporations? Google could sue Apple for being the father of the Android ecosystem.
Personally I do not care how Apple goes about it. All I want to see is Apple protecting its IP against Samsung and all these other parasites. I am continually amazed that somehow this puts Apple into a bad light. When someone steals music and plays it , say in an Ad, do we think the artist has no rights? If YOU invented something and someone steals it, would YOU be upset.
Fer crissakes
The people primarily complaining about Apple’s IP lawsuits are (1) Apple haters (2) Cheapskates who want Apple-like stuff on the cheap (3) People who hate lawsuits, lawyers, and courts in general (4) Lobbyists and lawyers employed by the would-be Apple competitors.
The rest of us are reasonably content to let the lawsuits work their way through the system and see what happens. If the results suck, then we will get into the action.