If you have been following patent lawsuits, then the company by the name of Lodsys should be one familiar to you. Just in case you forgot or if you were unaware, Lodsys is a company that many have described as being a patent troll. Basically they own the rights to several patents which they then use against developers or companies to sue them into licensing those patents. Just last year they attempted to sue both Android and iOS developers over a certain patent and now it looks like they might just be getting a taste of their own medicine.
The folks at Oracle have decided to go ahead and sue Lodsys and are seeking to invalidate four of Lodsys’ patents. Apparently these patents are pretty much everything they have to their name so if Oracle is successful with their lawsuit, it looks like Lodsys will have nothing left to threaten developers with in the future. Why is Oracle doing this, you ask? According to reports, Lodsys has also targeted several Oracle developers as well and instead of a patent re-examination, Oracle is slapping them with a lawsuit which means that ultimately Lodsys could not only have their patents invalidated, but will also be liable for damages, legal fees and other costs that Oracle might have planned. Sounds pretty exciting and we will be keeping our eye out for more updates, so stay tuned!