I suggest a different approach..if the company name of Lodsys LLC is not trademarked..than hey Best Game making fun of Lodys..wins!
So how many Indie mobile game devs are on HN besides me?
Lodsys explains in-app patent warning letters sent to iOS developers
51–60 of 80 posts
Re: Lodsys explains in-app patent warning letters sent to iOS developers
#52This doesn't make sense. Apple/Google have apparently paid the license fee for the patents - so are they JUST paying the 0.575% of THEIR OWN APP sales?
Is part of the 30% being withheld from developers paying for some of these patent licensing fees? If so, yes, I too believe Apple needs to jump in here and find out what the hell is going on.
If not, and Apple knew that every one of its developers using in-app purchases would probably be infringing a patent they already knew about and are paying for, shouldn't this be brought up somewhere when a dev chooses to include in-app purchases in their app?
Is it? Is it in the TOS somewhere?
Re: Lodsys explains in-app patent warning letters sent to iOS developers
#53I have an idea. If the patents were created to protect inventors, why just not forbid of any sale of patents to the third parties. The patent cannot be sold or inherited period.
> If the patents were created to protect inventors
They weren't, they were created to get inventors to disclose their inventions to the public so inventors wouldn't take their trade secrets to the grave with them.
Giving inventors a limited monopoly was the means to that end; why else would they disclose their secrets?
Re: Lodsys explains in-app patent warning letters sent to iOS developers
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
So basically an exact opposite of Intellectual Ventures? The problem with this is that people are still wasting energy, money, and time defending themselves. We need to get to a point where people can do their jobs without having to be paranoid that their going to get slammed with a lawsuit for some obscure and vague patent. I think patents should be issued on a use it or lose it basis: if you do not make attempts to…
Sorry to be a nay sayer, but it won't work. If this requirement were set in place, a patent troll will get around it by hiring a coder for a week to get something out really quick that does something nobody needs and then they'll sell one copy to their grandma. This won't evoke any real change unless you manage to make it very complicated. There would have to be mandates in the law like x% of your company's revenue m…
Of course there are loop holes in the the suggestion I made, it wasn't meant to be a cure-all solution, but rather to point out there are many many more pragmatic ways to go about software patents. I agree that the original inventor should be protected to an extent, but the current system is broken and needs reform.
Re: Lodsys explains in-app patent warning letters sent to iOS developers
#55So I'm guessing this will also apply to the Chrome Web Store when it launches in-app payments, right?
Re: Lodsys explains in-app patent warning letters sent to iOS developers
#56I've been kicking an idea around in my head for a while, although I've got no idea if it's viable or not. But it seems like it could put a stop to this kind of a thing. Basically, it would be a non profit organization that accepts donations of patents by hackers, and uses them to sue only companies that themselves have used patents offensively. Blatant patent trolls could also become targeted for life at future busin…
That idea's been around for a good while now, and it's been partly implemented in things like the OIN http://www.openinventionnetwork.com/about.php . Eben Moglen talks about the situation in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3QJB81rfbs (skip to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3QJB81rfbs#t=6m44s if you want).
Re: Lodsys explains in-app patent warning letters sent to iOS developers
#57This doesn't make sense. Apple/Google have apparently paid the license fee for the patents - so are they JUST paying the 0.575% of THEIR OWN APP sales? Is part of the 30% being withheld from developers paying for some of these patent licensing fees? If so, yes, I too believe Apple needs to jump in here and find out what the hell is going on. If not, and Apple knew that every one of its developers using in-app purchas…
I don't think they had the same deal. Maybe the trolls licensed patents to them for $1 in order to have big names in licensees.
Re: Lodsys explains in-app patent warning letters sent to iOS developers
#58I wonder what Lemelson would have thought about Lodsys and Intellectual Ventures.
"You cannot develop a reputation for somebody who gives up. You have to be known as a fighter for your rights. Otherwise, you'll never license anything...Even Thomas Edison had a tough time supporting and protecting his patents. He spent about $1.4 million [to defend his inventions], and this was around the turn of the century, when beer was a nickel."
-Jerome H. Lemelson (1923-1997)
Arguably the most successful inventor (in terms of revenue from patents) ever. His legacy is the Lemelson-MIT Award for Invention and Innovation [2]
Re: Lodsys explains in-app patent warning letters sent to iOS developers
#59I've been kicking an idea around in my head for a while, although I've got no idea if it's viable or not. But it seems like it could put a stop to this kind of a thing. Basically, it would be a non profit organization that accepts donations of patents by hackers, and uses them to sue only companies that themselves have used patents offensively. Blatant patent trolls could also become targeted for life at future busin…
The problem being: patent trolls like Lodsys LLC do not actually create anything. There's nothing to countersue over.
Why does the countersuit have to be about patent infringement? Just sue them to be a nuisance. I'm sure Apple's lawyers are good enough to be a thorn in Lodsys' side.
Re: Lodsys explains in-app patent warning letters sent to iOS developers
#60I have an idea. If the patents were created to protect inventors, why just not forbid of any sale of patents to the third parties. The patent cannot be sold or inherited period.
It'd be nice if the person you sold it to at least had to use the patent before they could start suing people.