You may remember Lodsys from that time they sent warning letters to half the developers on the App Store for infringing on their in-app purchase patents while vigorously maintaining they’re not patent trolls. Well, the time has come to put that claim to the test, as the New York Times and Opinion Labs have just, to use industry parlance, sued the pants off Lodsys.
The plaintiffs are seeking a declaratory verdict, which, far from meaning the judge has to read the verdict in a Scarlett O’Hara voice and start it off with “I do declare” as we’d initially hoped, actually allows the trial to take place in Illinois or California instead of Texas, where Lodsys has filed its own suit against seven developers at the end of last month. And seeing as how Apple has already stepped in on that lawsuit, if we were Lodsys we’d be looking for a nice comfy bridge to go hide under.
Source New York Times Company