firehose

Aurich Lawson

Lodsys became one of the most scorned patent holders in 2011 by making seemingly small cash demands (just 0.575 percent of your revenue, please!) against small app makers, who it said were infringing its patents that cover in-app purchasing and upgrades.

Within months, that brought a legal challenge by Apple, which saw a clear threat to its ecosystem. Apple had already paid to license Lodsys patents when they were in the hands of an earlier owner—Intellectual Ventures. So Apple went to court, arguing that Lodsys can't demand additional payments by threatening iOS developers.

Now, after two years of litigation, it's back to square one. The East Texas judge overseeing Lodsys' systematic patent attack on app developers has refused to even consider Apple's motion. Instead, he allowed the patent-holding company to settle all its cases—and then dismissed Apple's motion as moot. By doing so, US District Judge Rodney Gilstrap—who has inherited the patent-happy East Texas court that once belonged to patent-troll favorite T. John Ward—has enabled Lodsys to threaten developers for months, and perhaps even years, to come.

Lynda Carter — divine goddess, icon, and the only actor ever to portray Wonder Woman in a successful live action adaptation — still has strong views about the DC superhero she brought to the small screen.

Wonder Woman has developed a reputation as a “difficult” character to bring back to the screen following failed attempts to launch her in a Joss Whedon movie, an NBC series and a CW series. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Carter offered her own suggestion for making Wonder Woman work; let a woman have a go.

Speaking to promote DC’s We Can Be Heroes campaign to fight hunger in Northeast Africa (which we wrote about yesterday), Carter suggested that the various attempts to revive Wonder Woman as a movie or TV hero have gone about it all wrong.

“I think they try to just make her a female version of a male superhero, and that’s not what she is,” Carter told ET. “She is an Amazon Princess and she’s got really strong sisterhood values. She’s smart, and she just happens to be beautiful and super strong, and she has these great cool things like these bracelets and boomerang headband and non-lethal kinds of ways of dealing with people.”

Carter went on to say that she thinks what Wonder Woman needs is a woman’s touch. “Maybe they need a female writer who gets it. I’ve often tried not to say that, but I think it’s the truth. It’s like, ‘Hellooooo guys, get a female that understands what that’s all about.’ You look at any society that suppresses women, and it’s violent. Look around the world. … There’s a humanity that they’re missing. There’s got to be a sweetness, a kindness, a goodness in the character. The rest takes care of itself.”

This sensibility is not necessarily one that only a female writer could bring, but Carter’s suggestion that a hero should embody certain values and principles offers a stark contrast to the approach by Man of Steel writer David S. Goyer, who commented earlier this week that ‘Superman doesn’t kill’ is “a rule that exists outside of the narrative and I just don’t believe in rules like that.” Goyer also commented earlier this year, “I think Wonder Woman is a very difficult character to crack.”

Carter may be right to say that a different approach is needed; the current sensibility at Warner Bros certainly doesn’t seem to be a good fit for the character. If there is a “difficult” part of this equation, it may not be Wonder Woman that’s the problem.