anyone notice that MS and Nokia are not sued? This is a MS patent troll dog and pony show..
It's because Microsoft would rip their head off. You don't patent troll a bigger patent troll. Paul Allen is much bigger than Lodsys.
Angry Birds maker Rovio sued over app patents
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Re: Angry Birds maker Rovio sued over app patents
#22Software Patents Must Die.
Some patent must die, but I am not sure defining it as software is going to help. I get the feeling the goal should be all "business process" patents. Not mechanical or chemical, but the the patenting of procedures. I think that would take care of this stupidity. I worry that saying software will allow another open avenue.
Re: Angry Birds maker Rovio sued over app patents
#23For a while now I have considered getting into development for mobile devices. With all the stupid lawsuits lately I think I'm close to deciding not to bother. At the least not release anything I do for public consumption.
While the lawsuits are stupid, that is not a reason to avoid development.
Do not let the bad guys win.
Re: Angry Birds maker Rovio sued over app patents
#24Ideally, a consortium of Apple+Microsoft+Nokia+Google+HTC+Samsung would buy out Lodsys to silence it.
The price would be in the 9 figures though.
However, if only Apple bought out Lodsys, would it go after Google with its new weapons?
Re: Angry Birds maker Rovio sued over app patents
#25[deleted]
As is pointed out in other comments, Rovio is subject to the laws of the markets in which it is selling products. So, if they don't want to deal with this lawsuit, they can simply remove their products from the US market (doesn't sound like a good idea to me).
Re: Angry Birds maker Rovio sued over app patents
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unfortunately Barratry isn't enforced in the US that much: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barratry
If I'm not mistaken Rovio are based in Finland, where software patents don't hold much water.
If you sell products in the US, the courts will enjoy sales or award damages here if you violate patents/copyrights. Apple would be forced, for instance, to pay the judgement then rovio the extra, etc.
Re: Angry Birds maker Rovio sued over app patents
#27So yet another 'You've violated our patents, but we aren't saying which ones' story? I don't say this often, but I'm going to this time: That should be illegal. It's a threat, clear and simple. It's an attempt to force them into action without actually having to have anything concrete. It causes a ton of pain and anguish, and costs a lot of money, even if they never actually sue. It's absolutely ridiculous and should…
Kind of similar to how some companies with a lot of money bully people into submission by suing them with the intent of forcing them to run out of money, even if when the company wouldn't actually win the case.
I so wish we'd get Euro-style loser pays (it's really Judge assigns fees, and one party doesn't pay everything, nor do they let expensive lawyer fees be billed if they're unwarranted, etc).
Then companies could be more "Bring it on" when things are totally out there.
Re: Angry Birds maker Rovio sued over app patents
#28For a while now I have considered getting into development for mobile devices. With all the stupid lawsuits lately I think I'm close to deciding not to bother. At the least not release anything I do for public consumption.
They can only really effect the American sales. MOst apps sell a very sizable percentage overseas (I've seen about 45%, I've seen other devs with more like 60-80% overseas).
Don't let these assclowns stop you.
Re: Angry Birds maker Rovio sued over app patents
#29Looks like they went after big companies and studios too, maybe they will get counter-sued out of existence.
How? At best, the big pile of big defendants will manage to get the patent(s) in question invalidated after millions in legal expenses. But as we've seen with Lodsys, they have no shortage of patents in their portfolio. There's nothing to stop them from taking another patent out of their portfolio and applying the same strategy: shake as much easy settlement money out of the small shops as possible, then swing for th…
The could lose the other patents as part of a counter suit if they step out of line.
Re: Angry Birds maker Rovio sued over app patents
#30For a while now I have considered getting into development for mobile devices. With all the stupid lawsuits lately I think I'm close to deciding not to bother. At the least not release anything I do for public consumption.
They can only really effect the American sales. MOst apps sell a very sizable percentage overseas (I've seen about 45%, I've seen other devs with more like 60-80% overseas). Don't let these assclowns stop you.
I only develop on Android at the moment, and sell in the Android Market, and if I limited sales strictly to overseas, I'd be dead in the water. ~80% of all my sales are in the U.S.