Atari, EA, Quickoffice and Square-Enix join forces to support Apple against Lodsys

Gaming companies Atari, Electronic Arts and Square-Enix have joined together along with app maker Quickoffice to support Apple’s intervention in the patent suits going on with Lodsys, reports Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents. The four are using the same representation and presenting their recommendation for Apple’s intervention on behalf of developers getting sued by the company.

The support was voiced in a letter from their joint representation that lays out the reasons that they believe Apple should be allowed to intervene in the cases Lodsys has brought against app developers. Electronic Arts, Square-Eniz and Atari are all taking a proactive stance here, as they have yet to be served by Lodsys with suits. Quickoffice is one of the original developers to get sued by Lodsys and, while smaller than the other three companies joining it, it is much larger than most developers targeted by Lodsys’ first letters.

Basically, these other companies hitched their legal teams to Quickoffice’s wagon in an attempt to be aggressive about opposing Lodsys’ individual suits. This way they can weigh in now and hopefully tip the scales in favor of allowing Apple to go head-to-head with Lodsys.

In view of the Supporting Defendants’ critical need to rely upon Apple’s assistance in developing the evidence in this matter, Apple’s willingness to participate as a party in this action, and the lack of any cognizable prejudice to Lodsys, the Supporting Defendants respectfully urge this Court to grant the pending motion to intervene.

The four companies lay out their support point by point, much of which mimics Apple’s reasons why it should, after all, be allowed to intervene in the case.

This whole ordeal began when Lodsys, now thought to be a shell company for huge patent firm Intellectual Ventures, began sending out letters to developers informing them that their use of in-app purchasing infringed on Apple’s patents. Lodsys thenexplained its stance and proceeded to go on to sue most of the developers that had received letters, along with many more. Apple then made a public statement saying that its developers already were licensed for in-app purchasing because Apple themselves were licensed. Lodsys responded negatively, saying that developers were not Apple’s customers after all and that they would need to negotiate licensing deals separately. Apple then responded, insisting that it be allowed to intervene.

Many smaller developers that have been waiting for the courts to grant Apple permission to intervene on their behalf should probably be happy to see that larger developers with more resources like Lodsys’ tactics just as little as they do. We should see the courts make a decision on whether or not to allow Apple to intervene soon.