The legal tussle between App developers and patent trolls doesn't seem to end. The newest addition to the list of patent trolls is Kootol, an India based company, which has sent legal notices to a number of companies including App development firm Iconfactory - developer of Twitterrific - a popular Twitter app. Kotool software claims they infringe on a US patent for Twitter style real time feeds.
Even if App developers are not infringing on these patents, it is very difficult for them fight a case in court and pay fees for a lawyer. So unless a big company with loads of cash like Apple backs them up, they have no choice but to spit out the money, hungry patent trolls demand.
The good news till now for developers outside US is that these lawsuits have remained confined to the United States. As a precautionary measure to avoid any legal issues with firms like Lodsys, independent developers in Europe are pulling their apps from the US App Store as well as the Android Market.
Simon Maddox is one such developer who removed all his apps from the US App Store and Android Market. He doesn't loose out on much since most of his revenue comes from UK.
Shaun Austin, another UK based developer tweeted "selling software in the US has already reached the non-viable tipping point". Removing apps from the US store is only a temporary solution for European app developers, since it won't take long for these lawsuits to reach European shores. Kotool Software has already filed for the realtime feeds patent in Europe, Canada and India.
This is just a few people echoing sentiments of an entire community including not just developers but even users, who see patents not protecting but in fact killing innovation. Legal notices and lawsuits weren't all that popular in the age of desktop apps, but with the goldmine that mobile applications are, we see firms that do absolutely nothing jump into the scene to get a share of the pie.
Taking advantage of the ambiguous language of the patent, we see firms claiming infringement for something as ridiculous as a "Get full version" link within the app.
The only solution seems to be software giants like Apple, Google and Microsoft stepping up to protecting their developers with their big bucks. We have already seen Apple taking a stance against Lodsys, but a lot of these companies including Apple are busy fighting their own patent wars.
Independent developers have released some of the top selling apps and games, killing such innovation is bad for the entire community.
What's your take on the whole situation? Shout out in the comments section.
[via Guardian]
thats just terrible..
The world is truly becoming worse by the minute. Get a real job and make an honest living and sleep easier at night. As far as I can see they seem to just be getting a free ride out of other people’s work
I think the rules about patents should change. Companies shouldn’t be able to come back at any time and say they want a patent for something that has been widely used for an extended period of time. You either get a patent when you think of something or shortly afterwards, or you think it’s not worth the time and money. Even if something was solely their idea, companies shouldn’t be able to wait if it will succeed on the market and then claim a patent and money from everybody else.
I think software patents kill innovation, in the UK and EU we simply don’t allow software to be patented. I don’t see it causes us any problems at all.
It’s a shame that the USA amongst a handful of other countries allow them.
That’s probably why the UK innovates us with their awesomeness.
Oh wait, the UK doesn’t invent anything the rest of the world wants anymore.
You sir are quiet obviously an idiot. Where did I say that we innovate more than anyone else? However, if you wish we can pick out leading UK innovators from many of your top US companies, let’s start with Johnny Ive.
This is really sad and bad. Hope Apple does something.
I guess developers need to start getting patents.
It is alway good to back yourself off with a priviat patient so nobody can sue you personally. I have 2 private patients on my ideas already so nobody can sue me.
Unbelievable!
The ease to which patents is granted within US and few other countries without prove of concept should be question by the public and the law.
I believe, companies trying to get an easy ride in the UK as well as Europe, would be in for a surprise; a battle they cannot win as a law of common sense exist which protect the individuals and not just those with wealth.
As far as I know, the US is the only country that allows software to be patented. It is not allowed in Europe. European developers cannot be sued for patent violation if they don’t sell their apps in the US. Isn’t that the whole point of this story?
>>>European developers cannot be sued for patent violation if they don’t sell their apps in the US.
Really, so a European developer could write a Windows-like operating system or a clone of Apple’s OS and not be sued? That’s really amazing! Very unlikely, however.
Serious patent reform is soooo overdue, it’s killing the small business startup and big corps alike just for the selfish and totally shamless enrichment of folks that do nothing useful for society, they are just parasites! It’s time for patent office to step up to their responsibilities and retract any meritless patent like 1 click purchasing or some marketing concept or a simple ck, pinch to zoome, or a patent on retrying to send a msg from a server and issue patents to real discoveries rewarding hard work not trolling!!!!! And any one sitting on a patent but not making it available as products should loose the patent after 1yr if unable to prove it’s close to coming to market (exempting those stuck in approval loops like FDA drug testing). Yes it’s not easy but we can’t continue to kill the small business with near threats of lawsuits!!!!