App developers hit with patent disputes

Some app developers have reportedly been served with notices of legal dispute following their alleged misuse of the Apple in-app payment API.

According to InformationWeek, Matt Braun, Patrick McCarron and James Thomson have been hit with suits. “They seem to be effectively claiming the rights to in-app purchase, but going after me, not Apple,” Thomson wrote on Twitter.

The particular patent was invented by Dan Abelow, who then reportedly sold the patent to Lodsys.

Developers are calling for Apple’s assistance, hoping the company will help the network of programmers that has allowed the App Store to succeed.

The issue is that Apple developers cannot make a licensing agreement without the company’s consent.

“Even if Apple doesn’t have a legal obligation to defend these developers, it’s hard to see a scenario where the company does not step in,” a representative for Electronic Frontiers told InformationWeek.