On May 13th, several developers received legal notices from Lodsys saying they had 21 days to respond or face legal action. Lodsys claimed they own patents covering in-app purchases (IAP) and offered a licensing deal where they would take 0.575% of the application revenue in return for the developers being able to use IAP within their apps. Several of the developers affected appealed to Apple Computer, while others removed IAP from their apps and all worried that they would have to pay to avoid a costly and time-consuming lawsuit.

Apple has filed a patent application with the US Patent and Trademark Office for a “Computer Input Device Including A Display Device.” It sounds like a computer mouse with a miniature built-in LED, LCD, OLED, or TFT glass touchscreen incorporated on top in place of the conventional mouse button(s) and scroll wheel. Fascinating concept.

One of the latest patents to come out of Apple presents a new and novel way to display menus on graphical user interfaces. For instance, in Mac OS X, all apps currently change the options in the menu bar to suit the needs of their application. While this works functionally, some people argue that constantly having a bar at the top of the screen uses valuable screen space on their desktop. This is where Apple’s new idea would come in. Instead of always being on the screen taking up that space, Apple could simply present the menu options in a different way that still allows them to all be accessible.

In a press release out of Cupertino this week, Apple announced it is suing HTC for patent infringement in 20 different cases. According to Apple, the patents in question deal with the iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture and hardware, meaning that HTC is being attacked from all sides on this one. While the specific patents aren’t mentioned, this could become a long battle for HTC to stay above water if it turns out Apple’s case is well presented.

Although Apple doesn’t exactly have the best reputation with batteries, the electronics company has filed a patent for universal batteries; essentially, batteries that would fit all devices. The batteries would be able to charge outside of the device via a wall charger and would fit into different enclosures to fit to a variety of devices.

Information Week writer Alexander Wolfe has taken the time to scour through some iPhone patents recently in preparation for the Palm Pre and iPhone patent battle that may very well happen soon. However, while searching for potential infringements, he stumbled upon some interesting wording in patent number 7,479,949 that may very well show how serious Apple is about adding recording functionality to the iPhone. More impressive than the usual 30 second or so video clip that most phones allow on the market today, Wolfe believes that Apple will really blow this one away.

A recent patent filing from Apple shows that they may be working on a pair of gloves that not only protects your hand from the weather but allows you to use your touchscreen phone (I’m sure Apple hopes for this to be for your iPhone). Since touchscreen phones use the electrical impulse on your fingertips, the Apple patent describes a system that would reproduce this pulse. The gloves would contain an aperture or ring link device or cap on the fingertips that could be removed when it comes time to use your phone. When not in use, your gloves could remain weatherproof.

Way back in 2007, Apple filed a ton of patent applications for 3D interfaces for computing. These patents were published today and bring light to some pretty interesting details.

When Apple introduced Leopard, a faux 3D dock came along with it. These patents build on that idea, giving the desktop depth. The idea basically takes your standard concept of the desktop and gives it layers. This is similar to the way Photoshop works, only that the layers have perspective so they look pretty in 3D. This gives the desktop that box-like look.

AppleInsider is reporting about some patents that Apple filed for in the not too distant past. The patents detail some improvements that may be included in a future iPhone firmware update to improve the notification display on the unlock screen.

Right now, the iPhone will display things like SMS, missed calls, voicemail and appointment notifications on the unlock screen. But Apple is looking to improve the formatting and usefulness of this screen. The patent includes email, and I can imagine this including other notifications when Apple lets developers start using the push service they’ve been talking about, like AIM or Facebook messages.

Apple has shoveled a bunch more coal onto the fire that is the mythical Apple tablet by filing for another patent published for “Gestures for Touch Sensitive Input Devices.”

The patent is clearly for a device with a screen larger than that of the iPhone or the iPod Touch, but small enough to be portable. That’s a long way of saying the MacBook Touch, or at least that’s what I’m going to call it.

Details after the break.