Lodsys targeting Android developers, too

By on May 27, 2011 at 8:01 PM
mobile May 27, 2011

Earlier this week we reported that a firm named Lodsys had started to send out letters to Apple developers claiming that they were infringing on a Lodsys patent related to in-app purchases. Apple stepped in and claimed that, since it licenses Lodsys’ products and services, its developers were also entitled to use the technology. Now it appears that Lodsys is also going after Android developers for the same reason. “We recently implemented in-app purchases for our Android application and several weeks later we received a letter from Lodsys, claiming that we infringed on their patents,” one programmer said in a Google forum. It is unclear how many Android developers have been contacted, and Google’s Android team has yet to respond, but we hope the search giant backs its developers the same way that Apple did.

[Via MacRumors]

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10 Comments

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  • Anonymous

    What will Google do? Nothing.

    • Oreo

      As much as I love Google and Apple alike. I strongly believe Google won’t do much for its devolopers.

  • Anonymous

    Now someone correct me if I’m wrong, but before Google put out their official in all purchase technology could devs use their own method to to do in app purchases?

    Because part of how I justified Lodsys as a patent troll when it came to Apple was that Apple licensed Lodsys’s patent and iOS devs can only do in app purchases one way, the way Apple provides. So they should be covered. But on Android in its open dev environment a dev could do in app purchases in any way, including ways that could step on some patents.

    That is being said I think Google will step up to protect devs would use Google’s in app purchase because they have to. If the devs aren’t there the platform is dead.

    • Nick Vitha

      there wasn’t “in-app” per se, you had to buy it over paypal on the browser to do it…

  • Lechero

    so they want to take on google and apple. wow thats like someone trying to screw microsoft at the turn of the century. good luck

    • Nick Vitha

      I know, its one thing to sue apple, whose lawyers are now pretty damn experienced at patent lawsuits, but its a whole new deal when you sue the two most powerful companies in technology at the same time.

  • FiveMin orLess

    Microsoft making a pretty penny off of Android phones, and now Lodsys looking for a piece as well

  • Whenemusattack

    google and Apple’s lawyers will tie this case up for years or at least until Lodsys backs out due to inability to keep on paying their lawyers, they don’t have near the financial as the two tech behemoths.

  • http://twitter.com/digitalhomeboy DigitalHomeBoy

    Lodsys’ seems to have nothing better to do these days. 

  • Anonymous

    Here is the personal information of the CEO for Lodsys LLCMark Smallmark.small@lodsys.com(903) 935-3202Please call him and harass him, sign him up for spam, or kill him.  

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