App developers withdraw from US over patent fears
Found on The Guardian on Sunday, 17 July 2011
App developers are withdrawing their products for sale from the US versions of Apple's App Store and Google's Android Market for fear of being sued by companies which own software patents.
The growth of patent lawsuits over apps raises serious issues for all the emerging smartphone platforms, because none of the principal companies involved - Apple, Google or Microsoft - can guarantee to protect developers from them.
Software patents should have never been granted in the first place. A whole economy has evolved around them and countless trolls use ridiculous broad patents for extortions.