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.
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.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
... has settled with one company in exchange for a charity donation.
...
I believe this is called extortion in most places.
WTF Appleinsider. Last weeks have lost me countless posts. What the **** changed?
Anyway, I typed once already:
@13-posts-Denobin-not-working-for-Lodsys-whatsoever:
No, it's not classy. It's despicable.
By using charity, Lodsys attempts to both gain moral high ground and increase the amount of settlements, thus claiming their portfolio is "licensed to over 200 companies". They're artificially inflating the worth of their worthless claims.
I need to sue you for wasting my time, but I'll settle if you will give a reasonable donation to http://www.childrightsnet.org/
Fine by you?
@denobin Oh, heavy price to pay for forgetting the /s tag. Sensitive much? Or maybe unhappy to find out you can't just spout out nasty crap without being called out on it? Hard life, heh?
You know what, I'll go back to my mountain of extrement. Enjoy writing self-styled gold nuggets for Lodsys.
Besides, my answer wasn't even that aggressive... so it can hardly be anything else than the truth that hurts you. Internet is a cold and unforgiving place
Lodsys is a prime example of why software patents are evil.
However, at least they license their IP. And, as such things go, the Lodsys fee (0.575% of a developer's profit) is peanuts compared to what Apple or Google and the government take for their share.
If a developer sells $1,000 worth of in-app purchases, then about...
$300 goes to the app store owner. (30% fee)
$150 goes to taxes. (15% bracket)
$4 goes to Lodsys. (0.575% of remaining)
So out of $454 in expenses, $4 goes to Lodsys. A large coffee. No wonder many devs just give in and pay.
Was his post deleted? Maybe yours was deleted to save the reply to a nonexistent post.
You have no idea what you're talking about. I was being sarcastic but you just want an excuse to be nasty because you're frustrated with your own pathetic existence. Theres some hard truth for you. Go ahead and keep using the comments section as your personal little club, you'll make lots of friends that way. How's that for cold and unforgiving?
@Tallest Skil: no, I think it's just an irritating bug. Might just be me doing something idiotic that I did not do before, or Safari... No clue ^^
@Suddenly Newton: I believe that my explanation is what you meant, if I missed something or got it wrong, do elaborate ^^
@KDarling: Logical, but over thousands of devs and apps, it starts being a fortune
@Denobin: Friends like you, I can do without. I'm pretty sure there are lots of more valuable people on this forum. Besides, even if I'm generous and will admit "you forgot /s" (even though you did not bother to edit what's the first post to be read in this thread) and you did not create an account just to spew hate and you do not react hyper-aggressively to a bit of irony (so I added a few words to your name to point out you only have 13 comments, something many others, counting TS for example, do once in a while, and I pointed out it's ridiculous to justify a lawsuit by claiming to drop it in exchange of a donation by threatening you with a not-even-existing lawsuit reason such as wasting my time?) Definitely worthy of responding with your posts, and harsh words. I'm just going to ignore/block you, and that's the first time ever on AppleInsider, which should say a lot more about you than me. Just as a reminder, you seem to have a very lax use of insult.
Just a small search and it turns out that in the other 12 posts you made, you succeeded in aggressively targeting another user... Originally Posted by denobin You honestly sound like a frustrated wannabe techie who knows nothing about supporting corporate IT.
Good bye, and good riddance.
Amusing... while I can't see Denobin's posts, I do receive them in my email... lovely. If anyone from Ai reads this, shouldn't email updates ignore blocked users posts?
Also Denobin, since obviously you won't sleep if I don't apologize: I'm a repentant douche, I shall never again be rude to you. You are the Master of the Internetz and your light shall shine, as shall your wisdom. Please have yourself a celebration pizza delivered to your basement.
Unsubscribe from the thread, genius.
@Denobin I might be interested in what people think about this. Not including you, obviously. And from now on, I'll also ignore any email including your posts.
Thank you, however, for your kind suggestion. /s
In case you feel hated by the world, listen to
Cute child ^^
Forgot about that CD, thanks for reminding me it exists, even though it's probably not Prince's best ^^'
Quote:
Originally Posted by PhilBoogie
Cute video
I agree, certainly not his best. If you like Rock, check out* what he did at Montreux Jazz Festival
*Mega.co.nz, which won't work with Safari
No, nothing to elaborate. I never saw your deleted post.