iOS dev nemesis Lodsys pressures Android coders too?

In-app payment fight spreads

Lodysys – the patent holder that has pressured iOS app developers to turn over revenue from in-app payments – is taking aim at Android app developers as well, according to a post on Google's Android discussion list.

"If you've been following tech news lately, you may have read about a company named Lodsys that is threatening to sue iOS app developers (many of them small shops) for infringing on patents relating to in-app purchases," the post reads. "We recently implemented in-app purchases for our Android application and several weeks later we received a letter from Lodsys, claiming that we infringed on their patents."

We have emailed the developer in question, but he has yet to respond. Nor did Google immediately respond to a request for comment.

"Have any other Android developers out there been sent a letter? " the post continues. "Has Google taken any action on this issue yet? Has Google given direction to any developers that have been hit by this? We are obviously a small shop and are not financially capable of defending ourselves over a litigation."

Last week, Lodsys sent letters to at least some iOS developers that use in-app purchasing, asking that they share about half a per cent of their US revenue as a license fee for a patent the company owns, and it may have sent letters to other developers claiming they infringed three other patents it owns.

Apple eventually responded by sending a letter of its own to Lodsys, saying that it has licensed the rights to all four patents owned by Lodsys and that the license covers iOS app developers. Lodsys acknowledges that Apple has licensed the patents, but it says the license does not apply to app developers. Google has licensed the patents in question as well. So has Microsoft. ®