A couple App Store developers have received lawsuits from Lodsys, a company claiming in-app purchases and ‘upgrade’ buttons are theirs. The company has previously filed patent lawsuits against printer companies such as HP, Canon, Brother, and Samsung.
Rather than going after Apple, Lodsys is targeting developers directly. Rob Gloess of Computer LogicX, makers of Mix & Mash had this to say to MacRumors:
Our app, Mix & Mash, has the common model of a limited free, lite, version and a full version that contains all the features. We were told that the button that users click on to upgrade the app, or rather link to the full version on the app store was in breach of US patent no 7222078, we couldn’t believe it, the upgrade button!?!
The Lodsys Patent number 7222078, is described as:
Methods and Systems for Gathering Information from Unites of A Commodity Across a Network (Abelow, Daniel H.)
Daneil Abelow is the founder of Lodsys and his client lists include Cisco, Harvard University, IBM, and the IRS. Four patents are listed on their website. One of his patent descriptions list the following, which is what is in question right now:
sell upgrades or complimentary products
The legal threats weren’t only targetting one developer. Cult of Mac reports James Thomson, the developer behind PCalc also ended up receiving a similar threat, but he didn’t go out and name the company targeting him. It appears Lodsys is also behind this second lawsuit. James has contacted Apple for guidance in this matter.
This is interesting Lodsys is going after developers instead of Apple. Maybe because it knows it doesn’t stand a chance against Apple’s cut-throat legal team?
Want to see more of our stories on Google?
P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!
Those kind of stupid patent are a total shame to the Industry.
We see this kind of behavior each day.
I wonder if Apple will help the developers. Big company could have a lot of “fun” with those Apps developers. I think Apple should in some case because they actually get money because of those developers.
Daniel H. Abelow is just another parasite trying to make a buck off of app devs via the legal system.