[flipbrad]

hey grellas - I hope you don't mind tangential questions from a trainee. Whilst (clearly) none of us can do more than speculate as to the terms of the licence, I was wondering whether you thought it possible (in light of industry practice) that Apple licensed the patents for anything less than the full remaining term of the patent? Even if so, is the licence likely to be revocable by IV or Lodsys? And what happens to patent licences when the patent they cover is invalidated, further down the line - is it typical to see clawback provisions allowing the licensee to recover money already paid?

[grellas]

Even in a bulk deal, the term of the license would undoubtedly be the full remaining term and the license would be irrevocable. Thus, I would doubt that Lodsys is staking its claims against the app developers on any such ground.

If I were to speculate, the likely issue is whether the licensing for Apple's products (iPad, iPhone, iPad) effectively covers the downstream development of software intended to run on those devices. Lodsys would be arguing that the license does not extend to what the app developers do; Apple is saying in this letter it does and that Lodsys is misusing its patents if it claims otherwise (such misuse, if legally tenable, constituting grounds to invalidate the patents).

As to clawback, that would be highly unusual and would almost certainly not be in a license of this type made to major players.