Lodsys Offers Update on In-App Purchase Patent Dispute | Hacker News Reader

Lodsys Offers Update on In-App Purchase Patent Dispute

macrumors.com

22 pointsdave161921 comments

I'd be offering free apps that users unlock via an in-app purchase right now if it weren't for Lodsys.

Software patents are a cancer and we all lose when somebody can come along and assert an obvious idea like this is theirs.

Devs need a way to circle the wagons and form a collective legal defense. At least some of these patents could and should be invalidated in court, but no single developer usually has the time or money to make a stand.

This is known as the EFF.

EFF is kinda GNUish, while most devs who want to make money are BSDish (I'm generalizing a lot here, of course).

I think we all know what we need: a blacklist.

You work at a known patent troll? You're not working at my company if I get a say in it. Just because you are super smart and didn't have any say in the official business proceedings does not mean you don't take on responsibility.

It's quite cruel, but if the patent game doesn't change quickly enough, it is necessary. If you don't care enough about your corporate policies enough to quit, then you are an accomplice. These companies aren't scared of legal proceedings, they are included in projected budgets. The only time they will start caring is when no one intelligent will work for them.

Perhaps the only way to make these weapons useless is to make sure everyone is scared of holding them. Turn MAD into toxic containment.

... Then they offer a 20% premium for anyone who wants to work for them and then the risk of being blacklisted is outweighed by the pleasure of more money and people would want to work for them again. Don't forget that these patent trolls are rich.

Real question: Where's the best place to incorporate and host your site outside of the USA in order to sell software products globally with minimized hazard of becoming a target by patent trolls?

No need for it to be some kind of claimed tax haven or supposedly look the other way for content pirates, really just not worth a troll's effort for what they try to extract from a small company?

It's not going to work on mobile. You are practically losing the entire market by going outside the Android/iOS app stores.

I don't think that's what he was asking. I think he was asking about how to structure his corporation so as to be legally out of reach of patent trolls.

The use of Android/iOS app stores likely ties you into the U.S. jurisdiction, which allows for an Australian company to sue a Swedish company in the state of Texas (Uniloc v. Mojang).

Your options are fight or flight.

Assuming you have the wherewithal to incorporate a shell anonymously, that's one option. You might even get away with it. Good luck pitching that to investors.

Might I suggest you look to the future. What's happening here is as clear as day: our patent system is out of control. It's out of touch with technology, out of touch with reality, and worse yet it's lining the pockets of the rich and corrupt at the cost of forward progress.

What has Lodsys accomplished by doing this? Shown that it understands how to kick, extort, and squeal its way to profit by abusing its understanding of antiquated methodologies.

Pond scum.

No words.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4591002

Companies all over the world were targeted by Lodsys, including 1 man companies in the UK. They targeted anyone selling in the US (which is a big market you wouldn't want to forgo) and prominent on the app store.

Philippines, maybe. http://iprotect.ph/intellectual-property-code-patent-01.htm

If this bill gets passed into law, New Zealand looks promising: http://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2008/0235/lat.... This may not happen though: http://no.softwarepatents.org.nz/problem

Asking USPTO to invalidate patents issued by USPTO is more often than not a bad idea ( like in Eolas' case). Forcing the same bureaucrats to admit that they were wrong in issuing the patent is not the best strategy. The most resultant way is to have a patent invalidated by court (again like in Eolas' case), but it's more expensive.

This is what's wrong with software patents. Ironically Apple pulls the same shit all the time.

What is "this"?

Why fight a bogus company in courtrooms in the name of a broken model? Nonsense! Just change the business model to something that previously worked, like shareware. End of story. Back to business.

And what happens when shareware is patented? (Don't say it can't happen.)

The patent system is a mess. I'm not sure if it needs reforming or complete elimination, but it is hampering more innovation than it encourages, and it's getting worse.

Mess is an understatement, it's worse than that.

We need to be sure on what we want to do with it, because if we don't, we may end up in a shoddier spot than we are now.

PS: Apparently it already is :-/ http://www.google.com/patents/US6330549

150 developers doesn't sound like "momentum" to me. I wonder how many they hit up total?

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