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Everyone I know who is doing real work in tech agrees that patents like this are BS. But everyone keeps playing the broken game. No one yet has had the incentive to make a real push (like lobbying) for real patent reform. It's still cheaper to swat the flies than it is to, I dunno, hire an exterminator? (I've never been good at analogies)
I'll add that because appears to be a formal agreement between Apple and Lodsys, the suits against individual developers look more like a new twist in an ongoing dispute than the pure patent trolling which the tech press has tended to use to describe the story (i.e. this seems more like an escalation of an issue of which Apple was aware than an attack from out of nowhere).
Apple: [http://www.macworld.com/article/160031/2011/05/apple_legal_l...]
LodSys: [http://www.lodsys.com/1/post/2011/05/q-i-developed-on-apple-...]
On my Mac this page pops up a big full-page ad for some kind of "Clean My Mac!" software. I'm invited to press a "Try it Now" button. If this is legit software it is marketed by someone who doesn't mind that their ad looks and smells exactly like a trojan. [EDIT: Or, as suggested below, someone has exploited a JS vulnerability.] EDIT: Modding up the "Macworld" link below. [MORE EDIT: Removed suggestion that this thin…
1. http://www.macworld.com/article/152184/2010/07/cleanmymac1.h...
2. http://macpaw.com/cleanmymac
What should a developer do when they find themselves in a situation where their software might be confused with malware? This app isn’t even all that similar to the malware. The name is completely different, the purpose is completely different (compared to the bogus stated purpose of the malware) – the connection is tenuous at best.
The bad thing is that no app is safe from that. Malware authors can pretend to be anything. Is the correct response to that really to shut down business or whatever you want them do? Should all developers of maintenance or anti-virus software for the Mac really close up shop?
On my Mac this page pops up a big full-page ad for some kind of "Clean My Mac!" software. I'm invited to press a "Try it Now" button. If this is legit software it is marketed by someone who doesn't mind that their ad looks and smells exactly like a trojan. [EDIT: Or, as suggested below, someone has exploited a JS vulnerability.] EDIT: Modding up the "Macworld" link below. [MORE EDIT: Removed suggestion that this thin…
That’s an ad for a perfectly reputable maintenance app: 1. http://www.macworld.com/article/152184/2010/07/cleanmymac1.h... 2. http://macpaw.com/cleanmymac What should a developer do when they find themselves in a situation where their software might be confused with malware? This app isn’t even all that similar to the malware. The name is completely different, the purpose is completely different (compared to the bogu…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s an ad for a perfectly reputable maintenance app: 1. http://www.macworld.com/article/152184/2010/07/cleanmymac1.h... 2. http://macpaw.com/cleanmymac What should a developer do when they find themselves in a situation where their software might be confused with malware? This app isn’t even all that similar to the malware. The name is completely different, the purpose is completely different (compared to the bogu…
They should be more careful in the company they regarding their marketing tactics/UX then , eh?
Wow, talk about shooting yourself (Lodsys) in the foot - As above, in the notice letters we have seen, Lodsys uses screenshots that expressly identify the App Store as the entity that purportedly collects and manages the results of these user interactions at a central location. Thus, the technology that is targeted in your notice letters is technology that Apple is expressly licensed under the Lodsys patents to offer…
That's not Apple shooting itself in the foot. It's Apple saying "this isn't between devs and Lodsys, it's between Apple and Lodsys". EDIT: As pointed out by bcrescimanno, I may have misunderstood who shot themselves in the foot. :)
On a related note, where does this put the developers who got the letter? I can't imagine that this letter just makes everything all hunky dory. How do they respond now that Apple has issued a statement?
If Lodsys doesn't respond by retracting their letters/complaints, Apple will likely seek an injunction, preventing Lodsys from moving ahead with third-party lawsuits until the status of Apple's current license is determined in court. That's going to take time, however; and there's no guarantee that a judge will grant the injuction. If I were a developer sitting in the hot seat, I'd feel inclined to delay as long as p…
If Apple does, in fact, gain an injunction, it almost doesn't matter what Lodsys does, as Apple can drag their case out until it's not feasible for Lodsys to fight any longer, or by winning/settling.
Now this whole thing has officially passed beyond the ability of the average internet commenter to reasonably comment upon.
A la the RIAA shakedown business model a patent troll tried to extort a bunch of independent developers that had no chance of fighting back. Then Apple (with their well-documented $60 billion of fuck-you money) stepped in and said we've already paid you your protection fee-it transfers to our developers, now please go away before this gets ugly.
I think this is pretty great. (Other than the fact that the current software patent system encourages this sort of thing, natch)
It's disappointing that the response is "we've already licensed that" rather than "you cannot possibly believe that you really own that." Everyone I know who is doing real work in tech agrees that patents like this are BS. But everyone keeps playing the broken game. No one yet has had the incentive to make a real push (like lobbying) for real patent reform. It's still cheaper to swat the flies than it is to, I dunno,…
It's clear why Apple is doing it - it raises the bar for other App Stores. But it sucks that we're in this position at all.
It's disappointing that the response is "we've already licensed that" rather than "you cannot possibly believe that you really own that." Everyone I know who is doing real work in tech agrees that patents like this are BS. But everyone keeps playing the broken game. No one yet has had the incentive to make a real push (like lobbying) for real patent reform. It's still cheaper to swat the flies than it is to, I dunno,…
There's a catch-22 in this situation. Only large companies have the lobbying muscle to effect change. Apple, Microsoft, Google, and other players clearly risk more than they gain from the current patent system, but if they speak out against it, the trolls will organize a PR campaign smearing "huge, faceless corporations" for "picking on the little guy that drives American innovation."
Meanwhile, the little guys have essentially no voice at all in government, so their actual opinion doesn't matter.
Worse, the entire US government is basically composed of lawyers, members of a tribe that benefits from the status quo.