Move over Apple: some independent app developers plan to begin banding together to fight off lawsuits brought by Lodsys and its ilk on their own. On Monday, renowned iOS developer Mike Lee announced the Appsterdam Legal Defense Team, which will be made up of indie developers fighting patent trolls as a single unit and funded by contributions from participating companies. The goal, aside from the obvious one of being free from frivolous patent lawsuits, is to become "the ants of East Texas, minding their business until someone invades their anthill."
Patent licensing firm Lodsys began its assault on third-party developers earlier this year when it began suing them for allegedly infringing on a patent related to in-app purchases under iOS. Since Apple provides developers with the technology to implement in-app purchases, the initial wave of lawsuits came as somewhat of a surprise—why would Lodsys choose to go after small developers instead of Apple itself? As it turns out, Apple already pays for a license for the technology in question through an agreement with the patent's original holder, a company called Intellectual Ventures. Lodsys, however, insisted that the developers should obtain their own licenses, lest they be taken to court.
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