Live data from Hacker News

Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]

youtube.com

301–310 of 431 posts

Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]

#301
post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, Meyer does not allege anything of that sort in the clip. He says, "Bo Davis is a lawyer in the Eastern District of Texas that represents patent trolls and their victims. Bo Davis is Judge Leonard Davis's son working a law practice in the very same district in which his father is a judge. So, if Judge Leonard Davis can encourage more patent trolls to bring more lawsuits into the Eastern District of Texas,…

>>Not really a clear-cut recusal situation. One of those 3 letter federal agencies, that government spends $billions on, needs to look at this "not really clear cut situation".

This corruption is a government feature, not a bug. Washington needs trial lawyer money and has had trouble figuring out how to fleece Silicon Valley directly, so trial lawyer patent abuse is a win-win for Congress and the Obama Administration. Remember-- the entire basis of this nonsense is the patent office issuing vague patents, everything is running exactly to plan.

Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]

#302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google offers pretty handcuffs that developers mistake for bracelets. Consider how Google is helping the OEMs get Android updates out. Consider how easy it is to call google customer care. The real question should be: what the fuck developers? Why do you keep hitching yourself to such an unreliable partner? When is it enough?

Good question. What's the alternative for delivering software to a consumer market? Many people have Android phones.

Webapps...

Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]

#303

What to do about this? I'm told, you may be put to trial in East Texas, if you're selling your goods or services there. – So, why not stop selling to East Texas and let them settle the resulting collision of interests themselves?

(1) That would probably work under the existing rules.

(2) There is an active legal challenge to the existing rules (arguing that they misapply two separate provisions of law as if one controls a definition in the other, when that is not the case), which if successful would radically shake up patent venue and pretty much end the "drag everyone into ED Texas" thing we have going on right now. [0]

[0] http://patentlyo.com/patent/2016/04/circuit-continues-allowa...

Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]

#304

Someone with money and lawyers needs to sue the state of Texas for allowing a father and son duo to practice in such a conflict of interest fashion. This is a clear cut case of corruption.

I'm not even sure where to begin with this :) First, you can't sue a state without their permission, they have sovereign immunity. Second, you would have no standing unless you were directly affected Third, outside of violating non-binding legal ethics rules, it's not clear what law you think this somehow violates. The state can pretty much do whatever it wants here. Plus, all of this is federal anyway, so suing the…

Correct, this situation is 100% a creature of Congress and several Administrations, the actual state of Texas has nothing to do with it.

Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]

#305
post #20

It's good to raise awareness, especially on the users of the play store (I mean, the developers). For example I learned a lot from this video: in case I decided to sell an app on any store, I'd better contact my lawyer to get advised on where and how to incorporate my company. I don't know if it can be easily resolved by incorporating in another country, but the difficulties of an international litigation should disc…

New Zealand. They banned software patents.

There's broad exclusion for software in Europe as well.

Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]

#306
post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To save someone 8 minutes: Tl;dr: He visits the listed offices of several dozen patent trolls in East Texas, including one directly across from the court house. Each one is empty with no sign of human activity. One has a secretary who claims the address is the accounting firm for those businesses. Then one person comes out to say that he is "a representative" of the businesses, and that those businesses "are based in…

How is this fundamentally different from our beloved SV startups organizing themselves as Delaware C-Corps?

One is a parasite on anyone who would dare innovate, and the other is trying to avoid overpaying taxes.

Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]

#307

I find it oddly funny how Google hasn't stepped in to support their "clients", I'd think they'd help shutdown patent trolls so developers can continue to improve and distribute applications

Seriously - what the fuck Google? It's only a matter of time until a patent troll writes a for loop on the store index to send out infringement suits DMCA-takedown style.

As the video mentions, people have been sued for App Store and Steam as well.

Google, and Apple and Valve, can send their own lawyers to defend these clients, but since there are dozens of cases, it will be quite expensive. They can maybe sue these trolls for tortous interference, but that may not stick.

So they can't do much.

Re: Being sued, in East Texas, for using the Google Play Store [video]

#308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of those post-bucket list things to do, maybe, after you've been diagnosed with a terminal illness that still leaves you a month or two of personal autonomy.

The potential silver lining of my breast cancer! I volunteer!

This is where I follow up my earlier post to make it crystal clear that it was tongue-in-cheek, not meant to be taken as advice, encouragement or incitement to violence, and that I would personally consider it very, very wrong for someone to confront patent trolls by flattening them with uparmored construction equipment Killdozer-style, taking them out with a deer rifle Texas-style, or pulling up alongside their cars on the highway and attaching limpet mines, Mossad-style.

Under no circumstances should anyone do any of those things, because that would be wrong.

(And, more seriously, I hope you never have a good excuse to try.)

Post reply on HN