Rovio is being sued by a licensing company for infringing its patents with Angry Birds on iOS and Android
Rovio is among five games companies Lodsys is suing for violation of its patents, along with EA, Atari, Square Enix and Take Two Interactive.
According to the BBC Business: Rovio said it had not been contact directly regarding the claim. It’s spokesman said: “As soon as we receive more information we will take appropriate action.”
Lodsys doesn’t actually make games, instead it holds a selection of patents for inventions, which it licences to other companies, the patent in question is one for for in-app purchases. Number 7222078 refers to: Methods and systems for gathering information from units of a commodity across a network.
EA is being sued for Sims 3, Atari for Greatest Hits, Square Enix for Big Hit Baseball and Take-Two for NHL 2K11.
Lodsys originally filed against seven other game developers earlier this year, which provoked Apple to defend developers; its chief lawyer Bruce Sewell wrote to the CEO of Lodsys pointing out that although technology based on Lodsys patents is used by developers, they are making apps following Apple’s API and Apple has already licenced the technology: ‘Because Apple is licensed under Lodsys’ patents to offer such technology to its App Makers, the App Makers are entitled to use this technology free from any infringement claims by Lodsys.’
It remains to be seen what will happen here, Rovio may have to pay to licence the technology or will Apple step in again?
Via: BBC, Via: Foss Patents
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