MOBILE OFFICE BUSINESS ON THE ROAD Patents & Privacy How Risky Are Mobile Apps? a mobile app can be a worthwhile (and some- times necessary) tool for businesses. The good news is that it’s get- ting increasingly easy, affordable, and profitable to devise such apps. The bad news is that it’s possible to run afoul of existing IP (intellectual property) patents or inadvertently misuse private customer data. THE PATENT INFRINGEMENT PARTY A July 2011 article in the British newspaper The Guardian spot- lighted a growing problem: As patent “trolls” step up their attacks on de- velopers, often seeking injunctions and damages over completely unin- tentional infringements, developers are opting to remove their wares from popular U.S.-based app stores. In IP circles, “troll” is the collo- quial term for a NPE (non-practicing entity), an individual or organization 30 April 2012 / www.pctoday.com that owns patents within a given field but does not use those patents in any practical, productive sense. Instead, a troll’s patents serve merely as litigation weapons in fights that more businesses are trying to avoid. This practice has become so common that even in 2010, New York Times blogger Nick Bilton wrote of mobile technology, “It looks as if we’re in the middle of a patent lawsuit Super Bowl party.” James E. Geringer, a partner with Portland, Ore.-based law firm Klarquist Sparkman, LLP (www.klarquist.com), points out, “The patent system is meant to promote progress, and to help bring new solutions to market. If there’s a market in this country for an innovative product or service, whether it’s a soft- ware app or anything else, it would be highly ironic if businesses’ perceptions of our patent system deterred them from bringing innovation to our mar- kets. It would be a case of the tail wag- ging the dog, particularly if the weight of suits by non-practicing entities [were to] end up keeping practicing entities from taking the risk of being in the U.S. market at all.” Loss of revenue from side-stepping U.S. app stores is only one risk. For those who choose to roll the dice and stay on the market, a patent infringe- ment lawsuit can bring unexpected costs and disruptions. As Geringer notes, businesses can be too cautious, but they can also be too aggressive. No one can afford to forsake business mar- kets any more than they can afford to ignore software patents simply because the research is inconvenient or costly. PRIVACY PITFALLS Beyond patent infringement con- cerns, mobile app developers must also contend with privacy issues. Currently, there are almost no limits on what user data a mobile application can retain or share. Only in late February this year did California announce the nation’s first requirement for mobile apps to post privacy policies.