Wolfram joins Lodsys fight, files to defend its iPad app
updated 08:55 pm EDT, Tue August 9, 2011
Unusually, doesn't ask court to invalidate patents
IP analyst and blogger Florian Mueller has uncovered that Wolfram Alpha and Wolfram Research have jointly filed a declaratory judgement action against patent troll Lodsys in the Eastern District of Wisconsin, where Lodsys CEO Mark Small is located. Unusually, the action asks the court only to find Wolfram not in violation of any Lodsys patents, rather than seeking to invalidate the patents as Apple and other developers fighting the Lodsys campaign have done.
Lodsys has embarked on a series of lawsuits, originally targeting iOS developers but recently expanding to Android and game developers along with other tech companies, claiming that the concept of in-app purchases, feedback forms, cross-promotional links and other methods of storing user data violate its patents. Apple, who has not been directly sued but which is trying to become a party to the case, argues that its own license to Lodsys patents also covers developers who leverage Apple's iOS SDK to develop apps.
Mueller notes that Lodsys' complaint to Wolfram mistakenly refers to the company as "Mathmatica" (sic) and the town in which its headquarters is located as "Shampaign" Illinois, suggesting Lodsys or its attorneys are unfamiliar with the company. Mathematica is a software product created by Wolfram Research, but the complaint refers instead to Wolfram Alpha's iPad app, which has nothing to do with Mathematica and is instead a portal for the company's same-named search engine.
Lodsys' complaint against Wolfram may not require any intervention by Apple, as the claims made concern the concept of storing user information in a central location (in this case, probably Wolfram's own servers), rather than any claim of in-app purchasing or cross-promotional linking (since the Wolfram app doesn't offer either feature).
Wolfram is the eighth company to file a declaratory judgement action against Lodsys. RightNow Technologies filed a similar motion this past Friday. [via Florian Mueller]
