Patent Trolls Units App Developers For U.S. Market

Unfortunately, patent trolls are not a new phenomenon. But finally, we saw another disturbing trend: the trolls of patents relating to certain developers. Platforms such as Android and IOS allows small software developers to widely distribute their work - for obvious reasons - it's good for developers and consumers. Because these developers had to find a new audience, patent trolls decided they wanted a piece of the action and started to send cease-fire and hold letters demanding licensing fees, and in some cases to prosecute. Often, these developers do not spend time and money it takes to fight against trolls, leaving them with a difficult choice: pay or go out of business. It is therefore not surprising to hear reports that developers get their applications from the App Store U.S..

We've written before about Lodsys (here and here), a troll accusing the developers of applications for patent infringement based on the functionality of business applications. Lodsys continue to send cease and desist letters despite the disputes over the patent is ongoing in the country. (The Court has not ruled on the request to intervene in the lawsuit against the developers of Apple applications Lodsys IOS).

Lodsys the troll is not only the dubious distinction of application developers continues. A company called MacroSolve application developers using the technology continued to appear as simple as the distribution of electronic forms. More recently, a company called Kootol announced its intention to sue 30 companies - some large states such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as application developers, as Iconfactory. (Interestingly, Kootol "patent" is currently only one application, you will not see action until it matures into a patent in its own right, what should happen in a short period of time.)

The patent system aims to encourage innovation, but it seems pretty clear to us that there it does exactly the opposite. While we are disappointed that the proposed reform patent law does nothing to eliminate this problem, we will continue to monitor the situation and provide resources to as many developers as we can. To help us do that, we will ask the lawyers licensed to practice in the United States who are willing and interested in advising the target of trolls to join the EFF Cooperating Attorneys "list.

If you are interested, please email Rebecca Reagan rsreagan@eff.org with your contact information or details of your company, and the states who is licensed to practice law.