Wpcentral passes on a report from the Inquisitr regarding Apple’s latest move in the world of patents. Apparently the Cupertino company recently made some significant changes to its 2010 patent application on in-app purchasing.
While there could be several reasons behind the update, two of them stick out. First, there’s that pesky Lodsys lawsuit Apple keeps trying to intervene in regarding several iOS developers and in-app purchasing. And the second…
The second reason is the more likely of the two. Apple tried several times to patent the term “App Store,” and has shown over and over again that it will do anything to defend what it believes is its intellectual property. Just ask Samsung.
The new application was filed with the United States Trade and Patent Office last Thursday, and it appears to cover most of the functions involved in in-app purchases. If Apple were to win the patent, it could spell major trouble for its competitors.
It’ll be interesting to see if the USTPO rules in favor of Apple, or determines that the term and its functions are too broad to be patentable. I’m hoping for the latter, considering that an Apple-owned in-app purchasing patent could stifle innovation.
What do you think?