[dhimes]

What I find interesting about this is that there is nothing in the Apple letter that Lodsys would not have anticipated while deciding whether to make claims against the developers. Do they have a response ready? Or were they, in fact, simply trolling, and are suprised that Apple got involved?

What had me annoyed now has me interested.

[checker]

They probably just figured it was worth a shot to get some money, ethics be damned.

[Tyrannosaurs]

I think you're right that they're likely anticipating this.

Legal cases are like chess - a series of small moves rather than one big bang and it's done.

Lodsys will undoubtedly have hoped that Apple wouldn't involve itself but it would seem unlikely they're going to be put off by a single letter. The very earliest I'd expect them to drop it would be the point at which they got a court summons from Apple or the point at which a settlement was reached (still I'm guessing the most likely outcome).

The next move will likely be an open letter from Lodsys disputing Apple's view and reasserting their claim which will put the ball back in Apple's court but I'd also guess that alongside the public discussions there will likely be private ones going on to which we'll obviously not be privy.

[ryanisinallofus]

I think they honestly thought they had a shot, and went for it. Their documentation displayed a stunningly nieve but logical interpretation of their patents and it was a low-risk move to approach a number of developers to gauge reaction.

Though nieve the documentation did seem sincere.