Washington, D.C. (April 4, 2013) – The Application Developers Alliance is convening app developers targeted by notorious patent troll Lodsys to mount a legal defense on their behalf. Today’s announcement comes as Lodsys files a new round of lawsuits against companies large and small, including Alliance member TMSOFT, claiming infringement of patents so vague they could apply to virtually any app. The Alliance will partner with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and others to provide support and legal counsel to many of Lodsys’ most recent victims.
“Lodsys is an infamous patent troll, preying on the success of app developers. Startup founders live in fear of receiving claim letters, followed by lawsuits, by this type of troll. The Alliance is calling on developers to join us in our fight on behalf of the app development industry to stop patent troll abuse,” said Jon Potter, President of the Application Developers Alliance.
“Patent trolls are targeting independent app developers and small startups because they know they won’t be able to defend themselves. The threat of high-cost patent litigation will make any company settle even though the case wouldn’t hold up in court. I’ve also heard that companies that do settle will have other trolls come knocking. It’s like your name gets put on a spam list and there is no way to unsubscribe. There are no easy answers to this broken patent system, but something has to change,” said Todd Moore, Founder and CEO of TMSOFT.
Developers interested in joining the Alliance’s fight against Lodsys should contact patents@appdevelopersalliance.org.
The Alliance also announced today that it will initiate a nationwide network of patent law clinics to provide pro bono and discounted counsel to developers who receive claim letters or are sued by patent trolls. The network already includes New York University School of Law, Brooklyn Law School, and American University’s Washington College of Law.
Today’s announcement comes as the Alliance prepares to host Software Patent Summits in fourteen cities around the country, bringing together app developers, entrepreneurs, patent experts, and policymakers to discuss software patent challenges, trolls, and ideas for reform. The series, sponsored nationally by Rackspace and Careers 2.0 by Stack Overflow, will kick off on Tuesday, April 9 in San Francisco.
About the Application Developers Alliance
The Application Developers Alliance is an industry association dedicated to meeting the unique needs of application developers as creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs. Alliance members include more than 20,000 individual application developers and more than 100 companies in the apps ecosystem.
