Independent firms being targeted rather than Apple (or Google, or RIM...)
A number of independent iOS developers have been sent legal threats from a company claiming their use of in-app payments is infringing on one of its patents.
News of the letters demanding settlement to avoid a lawsuit broke on Friday, as several developers tweeted their consternation at receiving the threats.
"They seem to be effectively claiming the rights to in-app purchase, but going after me, not Apple… On Friday 13th, no less," tweeted James Thomson, the developer of iOS app PCalc.
Some reports have named a company called Lodsys as the sender of the letters, and the company has launched its own blog to explain its actions. " Lodsys is just trying to get value for assets that it owns, just like each and every company selling products or services is, trying to do business and make a profit," says one post.
Why threaten developers rather than Apple - or indeed Google or RIM, which have both launched their own in-app payment systems recently? Here's Lodsys' explanation:
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"As a comparative example, it is the owner of the hotel who is responsible for the overall service (value proposition) that guests pay for, not the owner of the land that the hotel may be leasing, not the travel agent that sold the reservation, not the manufacturer of tools such as hammers, nor the provider of materials such as nails or steel beams, which may be used in building the hotel; nor is it the outsourced linen washing service or the architect of the building who is responsible."
Lodsys also specifies that it is targeting developers using in-app payments to upgrade a free app with premium content or features. How much does it want to charge developers in licensing fees? Another blog post:
"In the case of an Application doing an in-application upgrade (and only this scenario), Lodsys is seeking 0.575% of US revenue over for the period of the notice letter to the expiration of the patent, plus applicable past usage. So on an application that sells US$1m worth of sales in a year, the licensee would have an economic exposure of $5,750 per year."
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