iPad maker Apple has moved to protect the interests of its developers in a patent infringement lawsuit filed by patent troll Lodsys.

The company has filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit as a defendant in Eastern District of Texas.

The lawsuit targets seven iOS developers which have been accused by Lodsys for violating its patents on in-app purchasing. Interestingly, Apple has already licensed the technology from Lodsys but the patent troll claims that developers need to take a separate license.

"Apple has an interest in property that is at the centre of this dispute, namely, its license to the patents in suit and its business with the developers, which depends on their use of products and services that Apple is expressly licensed under the patents in suit to offer them," the filing by Apple reads.

"Both Lodsys's complaint and its threats to other Apple developers adversely affect the value of Apple's license and its business with the developers." it later ads.

The company also claimed in the filling that the developers accused in the lawsuit did not possess the monetary as well as legal resources to adequately protect Apple’s rights in the court. Apple is planning to throw its legal might behind its developers to battle Lodsys.

The filing can be access through Scribd.