Apple Steps Up in Lodsys Lawsuits, Files Motion to Intervene

lodsys wordmark

FOSS Patents reports that Apple has filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuits Lodsys has filed against seven iOS developers.

Apple Inc. ("Apple") hereby respectfully moves to intervene as a defendant and counterclaim plaintiff in the above-captioned action brought by plaintiff Lodsys, LLC ("Lodsys") against seven software application developers (collectively, "Developers"), forallegedly infringing U.S. Patent Nos. 7,222,078 (the "078 patent") and 7,620,565 (the "565 patent" and, collectively, the "patents in suit"). Apple seeks to intervene because it is expresslyl icensed to provide to the Developers products and services that embody the patents in suit, free from claims of infringement of those patents.

With the move, Apple is trying to interject itself in the lawsuits that it has otherwise not been a participant in. FOSS Patents believes its likely that Apple will be allowed in, though Lodsys can oppose the motion.

Also, while there's been no public confirmation, the site believes its likely that Apple has agreed to cover the defendant's costs and potential risks as "it's hard to imagine how else this could work."

Apple states explicitly that the sued app developers are "are individuals or small entities with far fewer resources than Apple and [...] lack the technical information, ability, and incentive to adequately protect Apple's rights under its license agreement."

Overall, it's good news for the developers affected by the lawsuit, but is still just the beginning of the process.

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
mac pro creativity

Apple Launched the Controversial 'Trashcan' Mac Pro 11 Years Ago Today

Thursday December 19, 2024 7:00 pm PST by
Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro eleven years ago today, introducing one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontentment with the Mac lineup. The redesign took the Mac Pro in an entirely new direction, spearheaded by a polished aluminum cylindrical design that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" in the Mac community. All of ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With 'Major' Design Changes and 19-Inch MacBook Detailed in New Report

Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie. The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...

Top Rated Comments

BigPrince Avatar
177 months ago
wow....talk about Apple stepping up to the plate to protect the environment!
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KnightWRX Avatar
177 months ago
I'm wondering how the ruling in the patent lawsuit with microsoft will affect this case too?

That case is completely different. If you followed i4i vs Microsoft, you'd know i4i is not a patent troll. They had been partners with Microsoft when building the technology and they were mostly responsible for it hence why they hold the patent on it. Before the project ended, Microsoft cut all ties, dumped i4i and implemented the technology themselves into Office without giving i4i any credit or compensation.

Microsoft got what they deserved in that case. Not to mention the whole hypocrisy of "patents are bad! See what i4i did to us ?" and then turning around and suing tons of other players for patents and threatening Linux with veiled "Linux might infringe some of our patents you know!" comments.

Please don't compare i4i to a simple patent troll.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sillypooh Avatar
177 months ago
Bold move. I don't know many software (platform) companies who would have done that. The giant has a heart, protecting the villagers!

Not that the company had real choice here. Not doing so would have tarnished its reputation and viability of the platform. But still, it's cool, or smart, from their part.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Detlev Avatar
177 months ago
Yeah! This is so like the starship Enterprise coming out of nowhere and blasting a Romulan ship to smithereens. Way to go Apple!
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ComputersaysNo Avatar
177 months ago
What's that noise i hear? It sounds like charging a deathray or something. Oh well, just another day at Lodsys'office, nothing to worry about i guess.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
0815 Avatar
177 months ago
full text of Apple motion can be found here:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20070465-248/apple-tries-to-intervene-in-lodsys-lawsuit/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Interesting quote from there

The value of this license to Apple here lies in Apple’s ability, pursuant to the express terms of the license, to offer products and services embodying the patents in suit to the Developers, in return for theDevelopers’ agreement to pay Apple a percentage of their sales made using Apple’s products and services. The Developers, in turn, are able to use the products and services Apple provides to them free from claims of infringement of the patents in suit under the doctrines of exhaustion and first sale.
now we know part of the reason for the 30% cut ...
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)