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Danie Roy

Seems like not a day goes by that we don’t hear about a certain patent troll named Lodsys anymore.  On the internet, if you ignore the trolls, they go away, but in the IP world… you can’t do anything without feeding them.

Anyway, it seems as though Lodsys has added Rovio Mobile, the makers of Angry Birds, (among other successful larger game developers) to the list of people it’s suing.  Classy, no?

I know there’s going to be someone out there going “YEAAAAAAH STICK IT TO THE MAAAAAN GAMES SHOULD BE FREEEEE,” but they’re horribly horribly wrong.  Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I have a minor addiction to playing the freebie flash games that are offered online, but, seriously, complaining about paying less than $10 for a game you’ll probably get more hours of playtime from than a $60 shooter you’re only going to play when your buddies are over?  Someone actually did work to make that game, and they ought to be paid.  Even sites that offer freebies have compensation systems in place.

With litigation pending from Lodsys, though, companies are going to be dumping all that money into lawsuits that may or may not protect them in the end.  You know, instead of giving that money to the programmers and developing teams so that they can make more games.

If you want to help the people that actually do work beat the bloodsuckers, Gene Quinn has a pretty spectacular brief and some links to people who have a stronger dislike of patent trolls than most.