Texan patent troll Lodsys has slammed Apple with an opposition to the Cupertino company’s motion to intervene in a massive patent infringement lawsuit, threatening Angry Birds maker Rovio, Atari, EA, Take-Two Interactive and other game app developers.
In a 22 page document, Lodsys argued that because Apple was itself a licensee of Lodsys patents, it had limited scope in being able to act on behalf of others accused of infringing those patents.
In a pot-calling-kettle-black contention, Lodsys also claims Apple’s reason for getting involved is “purely economic” as opposed to the goodness of its core. Losing money from little third party developers is not reason enough for Apple to step in, says Lodsys, which on the other hand also claims that the big games firms have plenty of cash to defend themselves.
Lodsys is also ticked off that Apple won’t show it the full licensing agreement it has given to outside developers, preventing the patent troll from seeing whether the legalese would protect developers using Apple’s platform. Apple says it does, and that its developers fall under its protection umbrella. Since Apple already pays licensing fees to Lodsys, it argues it’s developers shouldn’t need to pay the firm again just for using Apple’s development tools to build apps.
Apple’s legal beagles will now have time to pick through the 22 page opposition with a fine tooth comb and mount a response which justifies its original motion. Meanwhile Lodsys faces some defending of its own, as it comes up against declaratory judgments on the fact it’s using its patents to attack others. If it loses, the Texan troll may have to drop suits against Android developers, at least. Whatever the outcome, it certainly seems legal tech is a thriving business these days.
