Apple’s “In Application Purchasing” patent filing creates a mobile timebomb

Filing patents, and their subsequent granting without any serious investigation, is a daily occurrence it seems in the tech world. Everyone does it and even in case where prior art or even common sense would dictate otherwise companies amass war chests of patents that seem to be more about crushing innovation instead of fostering it.

So it isn’t surprising that the reaction to Apple filing a patent for “In Application Purchasing” has not been “if it will be used” against competitors, like Google and Microsoft, but rather “when it will be used”.

Apple first filed the patent in April 2010, almost a full year after the technology was first introduced, but the patent just showed up in the US Patent Office (USPTO) on October 9, 2011. Now the interesting thing here is that Lodsys LLC, a private patent (troll) holding company already holds a similar patent, although it is considered to be wider in scope to Apple’s filing.

This hasn’t stopped Apple from licencing the “customer-based product design module” patent from Lodsys which has caused a bit of confusion as to how Apple can file their patent in the first place if there is any resemblance to the one from Lodsys.

Now there has been no word that Apple will go on the offensive if they are granted the patent as outlined in the filing but given that in-app purchases are becoming the backbone on mobile monetization Apple may at some point figure out that by suing competitors for similar processes they can keep their lead.

via Redmond Pie