Martha Stewart Joins the Ranks Against Patent Trolls
Martha Stewart- craft queen and expert in all things home décor- has filed a lawsuit against the renowned patent troll Lodsys after the company claimed that the “Martha Stewart Weddings” iPad app infringed on a number of its patents. Lodsys initially requested that Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia purchase licenses for the patents for $5,000 each, but Martha isn’t going down without a fight.
Just yesterday, Stewart’s company filed a complaint in a Wisconsin federal court asking that the court review the patents in question and make a “declaratory judgment” against the troll company.
The complaint also helps to draw attention to the 151 cases that Lodsys has filed in Texas courts. The company has been troubling app developers for years, claiming infringement on several of its patents, and often receiving settlements from small defendants hoping to avoid costly litigation fees.
The company has also butted heads with Apple and Google, two tech giants dedicated to pushing out their own products while defending small developers incapable of fighting trolls successfully on their own.
Lodsys is just one of several celebrity trolls targeting these small tech firms. In response to the growing number of application developers in the industry, the Application Developers Alliance was founded to serve as a resource center and collective voice for over 25,000 developers.
This alliance serves in supporting the efforts of Google, who challenged several Lodsys patents, and Apple, who has taken to intervening in several lawsuits filed by the shell company.
Now, with Martha Stewart’s corporation onboard, the force fighting patents trolls grows stronger. While companies like Lodsys are unlikely to stop anytime soon, the increase in groups against them is definitely a good sign.