It’s only a few lines of code, or a button… pay up
1–10 of 42 posts
Re: It’s only a few lines of code, or a button… pay up
#2It's clear that their goal is to force Apple to acquire their patent portfolio. Clever trolls.
Re: It’s only a few lines of code, or a button… pay up
#3What happens if all the iOS developers gang up and file a class action suit to have the patents reconsidered?
Re: It’s only a few lines of code, or a button… pay up
#4What happens if all the iOS developers gang up and file a class action suit to have the patents reconsidered?
It will take a year to reconsider. Apple needs to act quickly and aggressively on this to show the public and media that they stand behind the developers. They can't let the App Store become a feared, shady, legal-gibberish ecosystem.
Re: It’s only a few lines of code, or a button… pay up
#5What happens if all the iOS developers gang up and file a class action suit to have the patents reconsidered?
It will take a year to reconsider. Apple needs to act quickly and aggressively on this to show the public and media that they stand behind the developers. They can't let the App Store become a feared, shady, legal-gibberish ecosystem.
Very true. I find it disturbing that they haven't already issued a statement about this - I would have thought they'd scramble to get out a statement saying that they're aware of the situation and are considering options.
Re: It’s only a few lines of code, or a button… pay up
#6It's clear that their goal is to force Apple to acquire their patent portfolio. Clever trolls.
Either that or they don't realize that Apple, Google and Amazon (Microsoft too?) all know that their own App Stores are at risk. I wonder if this troll can take any two of those legal mountains falling on him.
Re: It’s only a few lines of code, or a button… pay up
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
It will take a year to reconsider. Apple needs to act quickly and aggressively on this to show the public and media that they stand behind the developers. They can't let the App Store become a feared, shady, legal-gibberish ecosystem.
Very true. I find it disturbing that they haven't already issued a statement about this - I would have thought they'd scramble to get out a statement saying that they're aware of the situation and are considering options.
Only in magical HN land do companies "scramble" to address issues like this. The best thing to do is to pretend these companies don't exist and you've never heard of them, their patents, or what they're up to.
Once your patent lawyers have had time to study what's going on, then you're ready to do something.
It's not "disturbing" at all. It's just common sense.
Re: It’s only a few lines of code, or a button… pay up
#8I could maybe buy this line of reasoning if the inventor in question was a true visionary that foresaw in app purchasing, and laid out a roadmap for everyone to follow.
But the thing is, the patent is an invention of something completely different - customer satisfaction surveys on fax machines - and has to be interpreted in the most general way possible to even approach covering what they're seeking licenses for.
This patent has added zero value to the iPhone developers it is targeting.
Re: It’s only a few lines of code, or a button… pay up
#9It's clear that their goal is to force Apple to acquire their patent portfolio. Clever trolls.
You say that but it's not just Apple that's being talked about - they've pointed out that Google and Microsoft have also licensed the technology and other large companies such as HP have been contacted about the fact that they haven't.
This isn't an Apple issue, this is an industry wide issue. Apple owning the patent would make the issue go away for Apple but it might actually make it worse for other app stores (if Apple decided to be a dick about it).
On the surface this feels remarkably broad and uninnovative as patents go (similar to the Amazon one click one which I believe was recently said to be invalid - potentially pending an appeal from them).
If this is the case (and it's hard to know without knowing more detail and more law than I do) then it really needs to be fought and overturned.
It would be nice to see the big players - Apple, Google and Microsoft - setting up some sort of fund to allow the small developers to fight this properly for everyone's benefit.
The actions of patent trolls might be curtailed if they knew that there was a distinct possibility that the next letter they sent off to a one man software house was going to be met with an army of the most vicious lawyers money can buy queuing up to kick your ass from here to kingdom come.
Does US law allow for 3rd party funding of such cases?
Re: It’s only a few lines of code, or a button… pay up
#10It's clear that their goal is to force Apple to acquire their patent portfolio. Clever trolls.
You say that but it's not just Apple that's being talked about - they've pointed out that Google and Microsoft have also licensed the technology and other large companies such as HP have been contacted about the fact that they haven't. This isn't an Apple issue, this is an industry wide issue. Apple owning the patent would make the issue go away for Apple but it might actually make it worse for other app stores (if A…
Lodsys say that Apple, Microsoft and Google are "licensed", but they don't make clear whether those companies actually paid for a licence, or if they were granted it freely by Lodsys as part of a PR campaign to make them look bad for abandoning their developers.