Apple still pushing to intervene in Lodsys case
updated 10:30 pm EDT, Mon August 8, 2011
Apple counters Lodsys in new intervention call
Apple on Monday countered Lodsys' resistance to intervention with a final argument of its own. A call for a court hearing argued multiple points, focusing most on the importance of the patent license covering in-app purchases. It argued that the license itself was enough interest to require an intervention and that it had a clear business motivation to get involved: developers were considering boycotting "core products" because they didn't want to be sued.
The claim also jabbed Lodsys' attempt to escape a weakness in its case by adding EA, Rovio, and others to its lawsuit. While these were the first that had enough defense to fight back, Lodsys couldn't claim that these companies knew "how Apple's technology works" or how Apple had negotiated an original license with Lodsys, the defense said.
Other objections reminded Lodsys that licensing term disputes had to be resolved on justifications, not during the plea stage, and that a motion to intervene wasn't necessarily an issue if it was too early, only if it was late. Moreover, the plaintiff hadn't challenged Apple's claim that the motion to intervene had raised important legal issues.
The new response is the last regarding the intervention barring any requests for clarification from the judge.
Lodsys has maintained since the start that its license with Apple doesn't extend to developers and has been trying to double-dip on Apple's store since the beginning, getting a license both from Apple for providing in-app purchases and from the developers themselves for using it. The suing firm has still been anxious about keeping Apple out of the case at all costs since it can not only fight back, unlike the smaller developers Lodsys had been counting on as its only targets, but might have the most evidence that its license covers developers.
Despite Android app developers also being targets, Google has yet to offer any motion of its own to intervene in this or related cases. [via Florian Mueller]
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2008
If the license wouldn't help
Apple's developers, then WHO would it help? I mean, how would it help Apple if the developers didn't make any apps for Apple? Is Apple going to sue the license for itself? I think Lodsys may have bitten themselves on the big toe, although it might be possible they tried to shove their whole foot into their mouth.
Sometimes these companies threaten suits in the hopes that they will get payments and worry about others later... Might not be a good strategy. As they say in the chess world, "Hope is not a good strategy."