Patent troll Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Lodsys: 150 iOS developers give in to patent demands

by Mike Schramm (Oct 9th, 2012)

Lodsys filed what many are calling a "patent troll" lawsuit against a number of smaller iOS developers last year, claiming that while Apple may have licensed its in-app purchase technology patents for iOS, individual developers have not, and should be held accountable for using it. Despite ...

Ameranth claims Apple's Passbook violates reservation patents

by Megan Lavey-Heaton (Oct 3rd, 2012)

In the latest in patent infringing suits against Apple, iOS 6's Passbook is the target. Apple Insider reports that Ameranth, which produces poker and restaurant software, claims that the ability to store movie and airline tickets and hotel reservations in Passbook infringes on patents that ...

Apple, Google sued by mobile web pioneer

by Mike Schramm (Sep 20th, 2012)

A pioneer in the field of mobile browsing has now set its sights on Google and Apple with a brand new patent lawsuit. A company called Unwired Planet, which used to be known as OpenWave (and helped to create the original mobile browser protocol known as WAP) has filed a patent infringement ...

Potter Voice Technologies sues Apple, Google over voice patent

by Steven Sande (Apr 26th, 2012)

The latest in a string of patent lawsuits has just been announced: a relatively unknown Colorado company named Potter Voice Technologies claims that all major smartphone vendors, including Apple, are infringing on a patent on natural-language voice control of a computer. Apple's in good company ...

Apple sued by patent holder Brandywine over voicemail

by Steven Sande (Feb 23rd, 2012)

It's tough when you're at the top of your game, because everybody wants to shoot you down. A new lawsuit against Apple by Brandywine Communications Technologies claims that our buddies in Cupertino are infringing on two patents that vaguely describe mobile voicemail. And who is Brandywine? If your ...

Apple drops appeal of $21.7 million patent suit against OPTi

by TJ Luoma (Dec 10th, 2010)

Another great day for the patent trolls: Apple has decided to stop throwing good money after bad in its case against OPTi, which has been awarded a US$21.7 million settlement, according to AppleInsider. AppleInsider explains that the patent was for "predictive snooping" of "memory caches that speed ...

Apple getting sued again by patent profiteers

by Steven Sande (Dec 5th, 2009)

It must be hard to be as popular as Apple. You're always fighting the competition, who sometimes come late to the dance with a wannabee product, then deliver snarky punches into the kidneys with their TV ads. Even worse are the lawyers, who circle the company like a flock of vultures, picking away ...