Lodsys
| Private | |
| Industry | Patent monetization |
| Headquarters | Marshall, TX, USA |
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Key people
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Mark Small, CEO |
| Website | www.lodsys.com |
Lodsys, LLC was a patent company located in Marshall, Texas that brought patent infringement lawsuits against a variety of companies in the US. Numerous app development enterprises have accused them of "patent trolling", referring to the fact that they have sued many developers over alleged usage of Lodsys' patents, pressuring a lot of them to settle rather than face the time and expense of fighting the lawsuit. On May 13, 2011, it was reported that they had demanded that a number of iOS application developers obtain licenses from them.Apple has written to Lodsys stating that Apple's licenses protect its app developers. However, Lodsys has decided to press on with their lawsuit and has sent a detailed legal response to Apple. According to the company website, Lodsys states that it is not a corporate subsidiary of patent holding company Intellectual Ventures, contrary to speculation from media sources.
Lodsys owned four patents, all of which list Daniel H. Abelow as the inventor. The patents are related to interacting with customers over the internet in relationship to products and services. This includes things like online help, customer support, tutorials, on-line upgrades, surveys, etc. The patents are:
In February, 2011 Lodsys sued several companies, including Canon, Hewlett Packard, Lexmark, Novell and Motorola claiming that the companies had violated exclusive rights covered by one or more Lodsys patents. Patents referenced in the suit were the "565" patent, the "078" patent, and the "908" patent.
On May 31, 2011, Lodsys asserted two of its four patents, the "565" patent and the "078" patent against:
On June 7, 2011 Foresee Results filed for declaratory judgment against Lodsys in northern Illinois, related to Lodsys claims against Adidas, Best Buy and WE Energies. Foresee is represented by McDermott Will & Emery. The claim by Foresee alleges that several Lodsys patents are invalid. The venue of Northern Illinois was chosen because Foresee asserts that Lodsys actually is doing business there rather than their published Texas location. "..this Court has personal jurisdiction over Lodsys because Lodsys' chief executive officer and sole employee resides in, and conducts business from, this judicial district." Michael Shanahan of McDermott says that the patents at issue (the same as the iPhone lawsuits) are actually invalid.Foresee Results published a press release on November 23, 2011 stating that they had reached a settlement with Lodsys that resolves all outstanding litigation claims between ForeSee and Lodsys and terminates all pending litigation with Lodsys related to ForeSee's products and services, including all such claims against ForeSee's customers.
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Wikipedia