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Apple to Close Stores in Eastern District of Texas to Fight Patent Trolls

macrumors.com

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Re: Apple to Close Stores in Eastern District of Texas to Fight Patent Trolls

#31

Post by tooltalk »

sonnyblarney wrote: post #23
vfclists wrote: post #13

The rich irony of a company that patented round corners taking the high moral ground against patent "trolls" or whatever their called

Most patents filed big by corps are protective in nature. It would be hard for Apple to sue people for 'round corners' - but it gives them a moat to protect themselves from trolls who patent 'round corners'. But it does cause problems, because it causes hesitancy in other companies, i.e. 'swipe to unlock' patents etc..

We are not talking about "most" sane, reasonable companies like Google, Samsung, etc. Apple is historically known for being litigatious, in addition to being the most litigated today:

https://www.pcworld.com/article/262202/apple_vs_a_pl_tech_co...

Re: Apple to Close Stores in Eastern District of Texas to Fight Patent Trolls

#32

Post by hnbroseph »

monochromatic wrote: post #20
IOT_Apprentice wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should they not punish the region? The Eastern district is corrupt.

Oh please. The fact that you don’t like patents doesn’t mean that judges who disagree are corrupt.

goodness me. i always chuckle at these kinds of reductive strawmen.

Re: Apple to Close Stores in Eastern District of Texas to Fight Patent Trolls

#33

Post by jjulius »

phire wrote: post #5

I suspect this won't actually prevent lawsuits in the Eastern district. With internet shopping and the new store just across the district line, lawyers should be able to argue that Apple is indeed doing business in the region. It will just waste a bit of lawyer time. It almost feels like Apple is punishing the region for it's patent troll supporting ways.

The passage below is from the short article you're commenting on:

>Residency is also a factor in determining the applicable venue of a patent infringement lawsuit, but in May 2017, the Supreme Court shifted precedent by ruling that a U.S. corporation resides only in its state of incorporation. Apple is incorporated in California, not Texas, satisfying this clause.

Re: Apple to Close Stores in Eastern District of Texas to Fight Patent Trolls

#34

Post by jjulius »

ironcan wrote: post #4

Would such a move be enough to not be under the jurisdiction of the Eastern District? Google doesn't have any store there yet that doesn't stop any patent troll.

The following is an excerpt from the short article you're commenting on:

>Residency is also a factor in determining the applicable venue of a patent infringement lawsuit, but in May 2017, the Supreme Court shifted precedent by ruling that a U.S. corporation resides only in its state of incorporation. Apple is incorporated in California, not Texas, satisfying this clause.

Re: Apple to Close Stores in Eastern District of Texas to Fight Patent Trolls

#35

Post by monochromatic »

mattnewton wrote: post #27
monochromatic wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh please. The fact that you don’t like patents doesn’t mean that judges who disagree are corrupt.

This district is a notorious harbor for patent trolls. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2017-05-25/the-te... https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/patently-unfair/ https://boingboing.net/2017/09/26/judge-rodney-gilstrap-2.ht... http://www.judicialhellholes.org/2015-2016/u-s-district-cour...

I’m aware that patent trolls bring a lot of cases there. That’s hardly the same as the judges being corrupt.

Re: Apple to Close Stores in Eastern District of Texas to Fight Patent Trolls

#36

Post by _bxg1 »

I grew up in Plano; the Willow Bend location was the "main" one for my area.

I think this will sting. On a map it looks like the new location is trivially close-by, but the Galleria is in "Dallas proper", as opposed to the other locations which were deep in suburbia. In other words you have to brave Dallas traffic across the urban sprawl to get to it. It's not a mall people in the suburbs go to to just hang out; it's an outing. On top of that, Plano and Frisco are both relatively wealthy areas with lots of people who really really like their Apple devices.

Hopefully this is a wake-up call.

Re: Apple to Close Stores in Eastern District of Texas to Fight Patent Trolls

#37

Post by gist »

charonn0 wrote: post #22
phire wrote: post #5

I suspect this won't actually prevent lawsuits in the Eastern district. With internet shopping and the new store just across the district line, lawyers should be able to argue that Apple is indeed doing business in the region. It will just waste a bit of lawyer time. It almost feels like Apple is punishing the region for it's patent troll supporting ways.

> With internet shopping and the new store just across the district line, lawyers should be able to argue that Apple is indeed doing business in the region. I'm pretty sure that's not how jurisdiction works.

There are two things going on here. One is whether someone can make an argument and rope a dope out a lesser party so they win. In that case in theory a good set of lawyers might be able to argue what you are saying at least enough to get money out of a 'typical' defendant who doesn't want to fight and that it makes sense to settle. [1] But Apple is not a typical defendant. They are a large and profitable company that has near unlimited resources to fight and drag things on. A patent troll with this type of power on the other side is much more likely to move onto a 'home with no security system' than to try and fight Apple. Most trolls are not world class firms. Easier to simply pick someone else to go after.

Separately one thing that I frequently see on HN is people interpreting things very exactly and literally by law or otherwise. As an example let's take someone who states that 'if you go 57 in a 55 mph you can get a speeding ticket'. Sure you could get a ticket and sure there are people have gotten tickets for going 2 mph over the limit but generally that is not something that happens. Or that you typically have to worry about.

[1] After all this is the basis for much of this troll action.

Re: Apple to Close Stores in Eastern District of Texas to Fight Patent Trolls

#39

Post by compiler-guy »

charonn0 wrote: post #22
phire wrote: post #5

I suspect this won't actually prevent lawsuits in the Eastern district. With internet shopping and the new store just across the district line, lawyers should be able to argue that Apple is indeed doing business in the region. It will just waste a bit of lawyer time. It almost feels like Apple is punishing the region for it's patent troll supporting ways.

> With internet shopping and the new store just across the district line, lawyers should be able to argue that Apple is indeed doing business in the region. I'm pretty sure that's not how jurisdiction works.

Up until a little while ago, it was how jurisdiction worked in the Eastern District, so it isn't (or wasn't) and unreasonable way of thinking about it. Recent Supreme Court precedent fixed this though.

Re: Apple to Close Stores in Eastern District of Texas to Fight Patent Trolls

#40

Post by the_jeremy »

dublo7 wrote: post #12
ironcan wrote: post #4

Would such a move be enough to not be under the jurisdiction of the Eastern District? Google doesn't have any store there yet that doesn't stop any patent troll.

Google's army of lawyers and cash reserves keeps patent trolls away. Pt try to go after little and medium companies who don't have the time or resources to fight back. It's way cheaper to write a check and make the problem go away, rather than fight via expensive lawyers or getting audited before the shakedown.

One would assume this to also be the case for apple. I definitely would not call them a "medium" company.
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