Patent issues

Some developers publishing on Google Play have been sued for patent infringement by "patent trolls", people who own broad or vaguely worded patents that they use to target small developers. If the developer manages to successfully challenge the initial assertion, the "patent troll" changes the claim of the violation in order to accuse the developer of having violated a different assertion in the patent. This situation continues until the case goes into the legal system, which can have substantial economic costs, prompting some developers to settle. In February 2013, Austin Meyer, a flight simulator game developer, was sued for having used a copy-protection system in his app, a system that he said "Google gave us! And, of course, this is what Google provides to everyone else that is making a game for Android!" Meyer claimed that Google would not assist in the lawsuit, and he stated that he would not settle the case. His battle with the troll continued for several years, uploading a video in June 2016 discussing that he was then being sued for uploading his app to Google Play, because "the patent troll apparently owns the idea sic of the Google Play Store itself". Android Authority wrote that "This scenario has played out against many other app developers for many years", and have prompted discussions over "a larger issue at stake", in which developers stop making apps out of fear of patent problems.