If you have not heard, Apple has filed a motion to intervene in the Lodsys patent suit against application developers. See here, here, or for additional analysis see here.
I like Apple's move, as it puts pressure on Lodsys and tries to bring themselves in as a defendant with enough resources to fight Lodsys properly. However, everyone should understand that Apple is not providing ALL application developers full indemnification. Apple explicitly states this in the motion to intervene. (I'll add the citation later) (It is not known if Apple has made individual agreements with the application developers already sued.) This is a smart business move by Apple because it is in their best interests to make sure Apple does not have an implied obligation to provide indemnity anytime an application developer is sued or threatened. In some situations, an application developer may get sued, and unlike the Lodsys patents, if the patents could be infringed solely by the application, Apple will probably not want to provide indemnification or get involved. (Note: These possible situations are typically addressed in a standard indemnification agreement.)
In other suits, Foresee Results has filed a declaratory judgment action against Lodsys, asking for a finding of non-infringement and invalidity of Lodsys's patents. See here.
-USPA
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