Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on TwitterBe a Facebook FanTumble us!

16 May 2011 10:36

tags

Tech: Lodsys: If it smells like a patent troll, it probably is one …

  • No, Lodsys is methodically selling its product (patent rights) in the most efficient means it can. … Ideally, we can sell as much as possible through direct sales, rather than having to use litigation. It’s less expensive and more efficient for both parties.
  • A message from the Lodsys blog • Discussing their reasoning for pressuring iOS developers to pay the company to pay its licensing fee to allow in-app sales on their app. Here’s the total crap part of the whole thing: Lodsys already got Apple, Google and Microsoft to pay money for the license. But instead of just leaving it at that, the company is going after small developers, saying that the license isn’t transferrable. Which means that they’ve already lost the PR war and will have a hard time winning anyone over. And also, if they’ve dared go after News Corp. (which uses in-app purchasing for The Daily and the Wall Street Journal), they should expect to get their asses handed to them by Rupert Murdoch’s auditorium full of attorneys. source

25 Mar 2011 13:09

tags

Biz: Once-powerful Kodak now raising money by patent trolling

  • $1 billion — the amount Kodak wants to shake out of RIM & Apple source
  • » Wait wait, how sad is this? Kodak, one of the great companies of the 20th century — and probably the one most deserving of a Paul Simon tune — has been relegated to patent troll status. Kodak claims that they hold the patent to an image-preview feature commonly used in cameraphones. The company has lost half of its market value in the past year.