

Apple files motion to intervene in Lodsys case - martingordon
http://moconews.net/article/419-apple-wants-to-take-the-bite-out-of-lodsys-suit/

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js2
Article based on [http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2011/06/apple-enters-fray-
ag...](http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2011/06/apple-enters-fray-against-
lodsys-files.html) already submitted by Florian as
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2640134>

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mfringel
The lord of the manor defends the serfs. That has always been the deal.

Good to see Apple stepping up into the role they've defined for themselves.

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stcredzero
The lord of the manor defends his fiefdom, or else his knights, retainers, and
vassals start wondering if he's cut out for the job.

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Bud
This seems like very good news. Apple should throw a few tens of millions at
this. Think of it; if Apple could somehow manage to kill patent trolling and
deter it in the future, that could be of as much benefit to the computing
world as iCloud, iOS and the iPad put together.

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coderdude
You know there's something wrong with your perspective when you think that
iCloud, iOS and the iPad put together are more beneficial to the computing
world than eliminating patent trolling.

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hahainternet
I don't know why this was greyed out so I am lending my support for it here.

Patent trolling is a massive issue and stifles innovation as we can clearly
see.

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chopsueyar
Apple's position is quite compelling, considering the amount of control they
exert on app developers, the iOS ecosystem, and the app approval process.

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ZeSmith
It actually makes sense for them to defend the developers: after all, would
you work in an ecosystem where you can get sued at any time without being
protected by said ecosystem's owner?

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SoftwareMaven
That's a little to generic. You can still be sued for infringing on a patent
in your software and Apple won't care at all. The reason Apple cares here is
that developers are being sued for using _Apple's_ APIs and developers have no
choice but to use those.

If Apple doesn't succeed in the courtroom, I can't imagine them having any
choice but to lay down a significant amount of money to either get a license
that covers the app developers or to buy Lodsys outright.

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jakequist
The patent in question[1] is far from a clear case of infringement. The
closest thing is Apple's app-rating system. And even in that case, there are
clear cases where the patent's claims do not hold water (Claims #5, #6, etc)

That said, I'm glad Apple is moving in. There's no way a small indie developer
can even begin to mount a defense.

[1]
([http://www.google.com/patents/about/7222078_Methods_and_syst...](http://www.google.com/patents/about/7222078_Methods_and_systems_for_gatherin.html?id=nA2AAAAAEBAJ))

