A Texas based patent company called Lodsys has slapped a lawsuit on the maker of Angry Birds, claiming they are in violation of four patents that they hold. Rovio is the creator of the hugely popular Angry Birds, and just recently was involved in another patent dispute with the industry giant Apple.
The Angry Birds platform is very poplular on Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, having been downloaded a combined 300 million times. This has Lodsys aggressively pursuing charges because they claim they own the patents, and are losing huge sums of money while the creators of Angry Birds are pocketing the lion share.
Mikael Hed is the chief executive of the Finnish based company Rovio, and claims he or his company has not received and notifications from Lodsys concerning any lawsuit. Lodsys is claiming that the Angry Birds application is in direct violation of Patent 7,620,565. The patent in short describes that if a user is on a network that it can interact with the vendor, gathering information so the user and vendor can have future interactions.
Lodsys has been aggressively pursuing actions on the companies infringing on the patents they own. To date over 36 companies have been notified that they are potentially violating the patent agreement, and they need to contact Lodsys to discuss the licensing agreement they own.
Because of the companies persistent defense of their patents, you can see that the opposition is beginning to roll over. Many United States app stores have removed the Angry Birds platform from their stores for fear of a long drawn out court battle. Many stores claim they simply do not have the funds that would be needed to obtain a lawyer in such a heated case. The effects were seen in the U.K. this week too as store began pulling the popular apps off their shelves as well.
Many developers in both the United States and the U.K. have received letters from legal firms, and rather than go to battle, have decided to pull the apps preemptively. Many developers are saying that the reputation of this company for winning battles concerning patent lawsuits, has them opting for the simple and painless way out. Many simply can not afford the extensive court fees involved.
Angry Birds however continues to be one of most downloaded apps this year an seems to only be growing in popularity. Stay tuned for more information on this interesting battle.
