iCloud and Multiple iTunes Accounts

I’ve been thinking about how to take advantage of this iCloud love and am afraid I may have some trouble. My iTunes account is really old and affiliated with an older e-mail address. When I joined .Mac so many moons ago, I created a separate Apple ID, my .MAC account (which later became my MobileMe account). This has never been a problem. I’ve bought lots of apps, books, music, and video with the old iTunes account and the MobileMe account handles e-mail, calendar, and address book.

So what happens now? If I convert my MobileMe account to an iCloud account it will see none of my apps, books, music, and video. If I want to use iCloud for my purchased content AND my MobileMe related data, how am I going to pull that off?

I suspect I’m not alone. We’ll see.

WWDC Thoughts

I suspect there will be a lot of these posts going up in the next twelve hours. If you read just one, make it John Gruber’s. I’ve written about iGlue before and hope tomorrow it becomes reality. Don’t go nuts with expectations however. Apple will only green-light as as many features for an iCloud service as they can master. If they can’t get something perfect, they will hold it back until they can. Another quirky thing about big Apple announces; they will make some interface or service change that seems so obvious, now.

The Lodsys Lawsuit and Apple’s Opportunity

So Lodsys made good on its threat. This really isn’t surprising. They sent the demand letter and now they’ve filed suit.

Lawsuits are filed every day. Crooks sue homeowners for tripping over the sprinkler when breaking in. Crazy stuff happens. All you need to file a lawsuit is a few pieces of paper and the filing fee. The trick, as Lodsys will discover, is proving your case.

I view these lawsuits as a crossroads for Apple. They could parachute in and protect their developers or they could abandon them as they enter the meat grinder that is patent litigation.

It seems to me that there really is only one choice for Apple, to step in and defend. There are a lot of reasons for this starting with the most important, it is in Apple’s own best interest. If Apple lets developers get sued for using Apple’s API’s, developers are going to to go elsewhere. Gold rush or not, nobody wants to get sued. While I’m sure the developer agreement has some draconian terms that say Apple has no responsibility, I don’t think Apple is going to leave these developers hanging out this way.

While the cost of patent litigation is truly daunting, Apple has the money and is already well lawyered-up. None of these defendants are in a position to defend themselves as well as Apple could.

Finally, stepping in is a huge win for Apple on the public relations front. Developers will see that and the iOS will benefit. If Apple were to take the other route and and leave the developers on their own to deal with this litigation, the exact opposite would happen.

As I’ve said before, I don’t possess a lick of knowledge about how to run a patent case but I have seen first hand the way litigation kills small companies. I suspect that in the next 30 days, the lid will come off and we will find out how far Apple is willing to go for its developers. For everyone’s sake (including Apple) I hope it is a long way.

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Home Screens – Josh Barrett

Josh Barrett(Twitter) is the publisher of Tablet Legal the premier iPad site for lawyers. Josh’s site includes tons of practical tips about getting the most out of your iPad and is useful to everyone. Josh and I became friends at the ABA Techshow. Josh is really smart and I recommend subscribing to his site. So Josh, show us your home screen.

How does the iPad fit in your workflow?

Like you, David, I’m a practicing lawyer a nerdy blogger and a family man. My iPad is a big part of my workflow in each of these areas. It helps me get more done with less friction so I can spend more time kicking the soccer ball with my kids, trying to write better on my blog and helping my clients.

My main work axe is a Windows PC because that is what my firm has deployed. Otherwise I use Macs at home and iOS devices exclusively.

What is most interesting about your home screen?

What usually strikes people about my iPad home screen is that it isn’t full. This might seem silly, but I like the aesthetic of a “composed” home screen, especially on the iPad. It also turns out that I have everything I use heavily on that home screen.

I have a folder for my “work” apps which sort of creates two “contexts” on the home screen. The default context includes mail, contacts, maps, music, my to do list manager and the like. The folder context contains my main productivity apps that I often use in conjunction with one another. The folder may introduce an extra tap or two in my workflow but the organization makes sense to me and seems to reduce mental friction while working. I named the folder “Ship it” as (1) an homage to “cranky” Internet guy Merlin Mann and (2) a fun reminder to me to get back to work.

What is your favorite app?

The app that has me most intrigued right now is probably Zite, the news app. The “Pandora of news” is the best way I have heard it described and I think that fits perfectly. Excited to see how this technology develops

My most heavily used app would probably be a combination of Reeder and Instapaper. These apps have transformed the way I interact and network with clients. I am able to stay informed about goings on in my clients’ industries through RSS feeds and I consume, share and archive articles I want to read through Instapaper.

Which app is your guilty pleasure?

MLS MatchDay, I guess. I have been a huge supporter of the Portland Timbers for years and this year they entered the MLS. The app is great with live video of matches (if not blacked out), highlights (often posted within minutes of the action), news and the like. Home games are my time to really blow off steam with the Timbers Army or share quality time with the family.

What is the app you are still missing?

More of an iOS feature I’d say, and that is better file management. As a lawyer like you, my work lives and breathes by files of all sorts of formats, versions, collaborators and the like. Dropbox solves a lot of this but I’m really hoping iOS 5 does something really special in this area.

What is your favorite feature of the iPhone/iPad?

Two things for me:

  • Portability with Lots of Power: This ensures I always have a great tool right at hand. I used to have to think about whether to bring a laptop (seems like I’d always guess wrong). Now I don’t have to decide. This is less of an issue now because of the new MacBook Air, but I don’t have one of those. Until I do, having the power of the iPad in an almost unnoticeable form factor is terrific.

  • Focused Work Environment: Because the iPad really becomes whatever it is you are working on, I find I stay focused and productive while using it. Also, even being a heavy user since the beginning, I still find the experience of using the iPad a treat. I can’t think of many of my tools that I can say that about. I have said it before, but there is something qualitatively different about engaging with your work on the iPad. Kudos to Apple for the product and the developers for coming up with new ways to do things.

Anything else you’d like to share?

Folks often ask about my wallpaper. It is a photo I made of the Lower Latourell Falls near my home in Oregon. Photography is a hobby of mine. Lots of great waterfalls out here to shoot.

Thanks for sharing my home screen with your readers!

Thanks Josh.

About Lodsys

One of the cardinal rules of this website is that I will never provide any legal advice. Not only is this to keep me from getting sued for malpractice but also because this part of my life is separate from that part of my life. Nevertheless, people have asked and I think it is time to weigh in with my own thoughts.

First a little background

I don’t practice intellectual property law. I don’t know anything about it. I have never represented a client concerning an intellectual property issue. I have no more knowledge about this stuff than any of the other Internet carnival barkers out there. If you read anything in this post and used it to make a legal decision in your own life, that would make you a moron. If you’ve got a legal problem, get a lawyer.
The one thing I am sure about when an intellectual property issue arises for one of my clients is to run, not walk, to the nearest IP specialist and hand them off.

What I also know is that patent and trademark cases are one of the most efficient ways to kill a company. It is like terminal cancer, heart disease, and a hernia all rolled up into one ball of pain. I tell my clients that litigating in the patent court is the same as building a bonfire of $100 bills. Burn baby burn. Perhaps it’s not clear, but I am not a fan of patent and trademark litigation.

What we know, now

It is undisputed that Apple entered a license agreement with Lodsys. Nobody on the outside, however, has seen it. I suspect somewhere in that agreement is a critical paragraph that talks about the extent and scope of the license. It either applies to independent app developers using the Apple produced API or doesn’t. That is what a lot of very expensive lawyers are going to spend the next year arguing about and ultimately, barring settlement, a smart person in a black robe will decide.

Before Apple went public on this, one possible outcome was that this matter would just go away. Indeed, the first draft of this post included an extensive discussion of this possibility. I reasoned that if Apple’s own reading of the license agreement was that the license didn’t extend to independent app developers, Apple would quietly enter negotiations with Lodsys to amend the agreement, write a check, and be done with it. This would be done quietly because Apple does not want to open the door for every other software license agreement and, frankly, because it is Apple.

That did not happen. To the contrary, Apple very publicly states that it has reviewed the license agreement and believes it applies to the app developers. I suspect Apple attorneys burned the midnight oil during the last week reaching that conclusion so such a definitive statement could be made.

I don’t think Apple has the disdain for its developers that some imply. Nor do I believe they will leave developers in the lurch. The stakes are too high for Apple. If independent app developers can get sucked into intellectual-property litigation at the drop of a hat, a lot of them would leave the platform. I certainly would. I’m happy that Apple has stepped in. What started out looking like David versus Goliath now looks like Goliath versus the Imperial Death Star.

Although I’ve seen none of the underlying documents in this case and don’t pretend to understand the patents at issue, I suspect this matter really boils down to a matter of contract. The Lodsys/Apple license is either broad enough to cover these app developers or not. In either case, I suspect Apple is going to do right and all future Apple software licenses just got about five pages longer to make sure this never happens again.

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