Amazon on Tuesday unveiled its in-app purchasing feature for the Amazon Appstore paving another way for developers to make money through their apps on the Amazon marketplace.

The in-app purchasing feature on the Amazon Appstore will also integrate the famed one-click technology of the internet commerce giant.

However, with the introduction of in-app purchasing for its app store, Amazon is now open to the litigious ways of a company called Lodsys which claims to have patents on the in-app purchasing technology.

According to a report from CNet, Lodsys has explicityly told them that “Amazon is not licensed” to use the Texas-based Lodsys.

For those who do not remember, Lodsys is the company which threatened individual Apple app developers who use in-app purchasing for their apps to pay up or face legal charges.

That was last year when Lodsys cited U.S. patent no. 7222078 which it owns as the patent being violated by app developers.

It took some time before Apple got involved and organizations like the Electronic Frontiers Foundation urged the i-devices maker protect its app developers.

When Apple finally took a stand, Bruce Sewell, senior vice president and general counsel for Apple, told Lodsys through a letter that they have no basis to sue Apple’s app makers since Apple is already a licensee of Lodsys patents concerning in-app purchasing.

Apple contends that since they already pay Lodsys for licenses, individual app developers for the iOS platform are covered by Apple’s licensing.

In a stern warning, Sewell wrote that the Cupertino, California-based Apple is “fully prepared to defend Apple’s license rights”.

However, Lodsys remained steadfast 3rd party developers are not covered by Apple’s license on the Lodsys in-app purchasing patents.

Because of this, and since Lodsys has already filed cases against app developers on the Apple ecosystem, Apple in June filed a motion to intervene in the cases filed by Lodsys.

Nonetheless, Lodsys also threatened legal action against developers on the Android ecosystem.

This was met with criticism from Android purveyor Google as the company has also filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to invalidate Lodsys-owned patents 7,222,078 and 7,620,565.

These two patents are used by Lodsys to claim they have a stranglehold on the technology concerning in-app purchasing.

Among those sued by Lodsys for allegedly infringing their in-app purchasing technology are game developers, even big ones like Square Enix, Electronic Arts and Atari.

Apple, Google, and Windows Phone-maker Microsoft are all licensees of Lodsys patents concerning in-app purchasing.

Lodsys may next sue Amazon because of the newly-unveiled in-app purchasing feature connected to the Amazon Appstore. Image: chadswaney / Flickr (CC)

Via CNet

About Solon Harmony Dolor

A passion for technology and journalism makes this upcoming writer very interested in social media and technology news. Fresh from finishing an English and Journalism degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman, he aims to bring interesting news to our readers .