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Judge tosses Apple motion, allows patent troll Lodsys to continue rampage

arstechnica.com

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Re: Judge tosses Apple motion, allows patent troll Lodsys to continue rampage

#21

Post by mistercow »

dctoedt wrote: post #15
option_greek wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The judge is constrained by long-established rules. Article III of the U.S. Constitution limits the power of the federal courts to actual cases and controversies." Even if that was the case, assuming nothing bad is going on, there has to be a reason all these cases end up there. It's too frequent to be a coincidence.

> Even if that was the case, assuming nothing bad is going on, there has to be a reason all these cases end up there. It's too frequent to be a coincidence. Fifteen-plus years ago the Eastern District of Texas developed a reputation as a good place to litigate patent cases because at the time it was a fast docket (not so much any more, because of all the patent cases being filed there) and the judges there have come…

>In a 2010 article, Stanford law professor Mark Lemley, who is known for his careful statistical analysis of patent cases (and is cited amazingly often by the Supreme Court), noted that the win rate for patent owners in the Eastern District was 40%

That statistic is meaningless without the base rate, which turns out to be 32.5%. I'd also point out that there's something very weaselly about Lemley saying the district "is not in the top five", when what he really means is "it's the sixth most". It's technically true, but looking at N and saying "greater than N - 1" is a way of increasing the rhetorical impact of a figure without actually lying about it. It implies that N could fall anywhere over that threshold, when in fact you've picked the threshold right under N.

Perhaps a more objective way to say it would be to say that the Eastern District of Texas's patent win rate is in the 81st percentile.

Re: Judge tosses Apple motion, allows patent troll Lodsys to continue rampage

#22

Post by josephlord »

x0054 wrote: post #2

Apple should hire a nation wide law firm to defend any and all apple developers who are sued by Lodsys fore these patents. Instruct the lawfirm to never settle and actively file actions on beheld of each client against Lodsys. It's simple, once they realize that no one will settle with them, they will go away. Now, where on earth is that patent troll bill congress has been promising?

Yes they could do more to help but at least they are doing more than Google.

Re: Judge tosses Apple motion, allows patent troll Lodsys to continue rampage

#23

Post by dctoedt »

mistercow wrote: post #20
dctoedt wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why hasn't anyone addressed the probable criminal activity going on with these handful of judges in this one district of Texas? ... My hypothesis is there's a payoff racket going on. There's a multi level system setup with a few insiders who know how to pay off the local judges to dismiss certain cases. Careful there. Unless you've got more than a hypothesis, what you're saying borders on the libelous. (Not that a…

Don't terms like "probable" and "my hypothesis" pretty obviously make this a statement of opinion, and therefore immune to libel claims?

> Don't terms like "probable" and "my hypothesis" pretty obviously make this a statement of opinion, and therefore immune to libel claims?

Quite possibly. But who wants to spend the legal fees to test that? Pragmatically, it's better to stay reasonably far away from the edge of that particular cliff, lest one be propelled over the edge by a random gust of wind (or a well-placed push).

Re: Judge tosses Apple motion, allows patent troll Lodsys to continue rampage

#24

Post by [deleted] »

mistercow wrote: post #20
dctoedt wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why hasn't anyone addressed the probable criminal activity going on with these handful of judges in this one district of Texas? ... My hypothesis is there's a payoff racket going on. There's a multi level system setup with a few insiders who know how to pay off the local judges to dismiss certain cases. Careful there. Unless you've got more than a hypothesis, what you're saying borders on the libelous. (Not that a…

Don't terms like "probable" and "my hypothesis" pretty obviously make this a statement of opinion, and therefore immune to libel claims?

[deleted]

Re: Judge tosses Apple motion, allows patent troll Lodsys to continue rampage

#25

Post by alexqgb »

mistercow wrote: post #20
dctoedt wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why hasn't anyone addressed the probable criminal activity going on with these handful of judges in this one district of Texas? ... My hypothesis is there's a payoff racket going on. There's a multi level system setup with a few insiders who know how to pay off the local judges to dismiss certain cases. Careful there. Unless you've got more than a hypothesis, what you're saying borders on the libelous. (Not that a…

Don't terms like "probable" and "my hypothesis" pretty obviously make this a statement of opinion, and therefore immune to libel claims?

Relax. When it comes the discussion of corrupt public officials, the bar is much lower than it is with private individuals. Since trust in the system is so important, even the appearance of corruption can be as open to criticism as corruption itself, which is obviously harder to demonstrate. Simply tolerating the possibility of abuse invites distrust, making those who tolerate it reasonable targets for sharp skepticism (e.g. the NSA).

Of course, government is shot through with conflicts, both obvious and hidden. And people getting criticized for these ignore them and the criticism routinely. But that doesn't change the fact that you don't have to know something is rotten to speak up. The mere appearance of rot is, in and of itself, a problem.

And yes, what's happening in West Texas looks REALLY shady.

Re: Judge tosses Apple motion, allows patent troll Lodsys to continue rampage

#26

Post by aspensmonster »

geuis wrote: post #5

Why hasn't anyone addressed the probable criminal activity going on with these handful of judges in this one district of Texas? Just because someone has the title "judge" doesn't give them untouchable super powers. There's a giant reek of illegality coming from that area and someone needs to look under the covers. My hypothesis is there's a payoff racket going on. There's a multi level system setup with a few insider…

It's Texas. With its Republican judiciary and Republican legislature and Republican executive branch, you'd think that things like cronyism and corruption and rackets and other forms of meddling with the Invisible Hand of the Free Market would be frowned upon. You'd think Texas would be a paragon of Free Market economic ideology.

But who am I kidding, you've lived here too. Minus a short stint in Denver, I've lived here my whole life. People can say you're speaking out your ass and call it bigotry all they want --and demand you return to Slashdot; it seems Hacker News considers itself above such lowly forums as Slashdot and Reddit-- but it doesn't change the truth of the matter. A majority of the citizenry of this state make their opinions on such matters perfectly clear with every vote in every election they participate in. Hell, there's a significant contingent belonging to the Tea Party who think the Republicans don't go far enough. They were significant enough to elect a Tea Party representative to the U.S. Senate. That's mental. The only real hope Texas has is that eventually the Hispanic block grows to eclipse the Republican block without falling prey to the Catholic priests who say in so many words that Jesus wanted you to vote Republican.

Re: Judge tosses Apple motion, allows patent troll Lodsys to continue rampage

#27

Post by geuis »

dctoedt wrote: post #8
geuis wrote: post #5

Why hasn't anyone addressed the probable criminal activity going on with these handful of judges in this one district of Texas? Just because someone has the title "judge" doesn't give them untouchable super powers. There's a giant reek of illegality coming from that area and someone needs to look under the covers. My hypothesis is there's a payoff racket going on. There's a multi level system setup with a few insider…

> Why hasn't anyone addressed the probable criminal activity going on with these handful of judges in this one district of Texas? ... My hypothesis is there's a payoff racket going on. There's a multi level system setup with a few insiders who know how to pay off the local judges to dismiss certain cases. Careful there. Unless you've got more than a hypothesis, what you're saying borders on the libelous. (Not that a…

Thanks for a well-discussed and well-thought response, which is more than the other responses garnered. "Go back to Slashdot", "You're a biggot", etc.

I say what I think and while some people don't like what I say, I try to be as realistic about a situation as I can be. So yes, on average Texans are among the most devout Christians and among the worst educated in the United States. There are more than enough public statistics to back this up.

In response to your libel statement, while I respect your background, that is entirely not the point.

It's actually exactly the response I would expect from someone or a group who are involved in nefarious acts and are being called out on it. Rather than addressing the accusation and presenting evidence to the contrary, they seek to attack and silence the investigator by throwing out accusations of libel. It's a tactic of snakes.

Unless I am seriously misunderstanding what happened here, which is possible, there was no mutual settlement here. Lodsys was allowed to unilaterally settle. Most of Apple's arguments were just ignored. Quoting from the article,

"The East Texas judge overseeing Lodsys' systematic patent attack on app developers has refused to even consider Apple's motion. Instead, he allowed the patent-holding company to settle all its cases—and then dismissed Apple's motion as moot. By doing so, US District Judge Rodney Gilstrap—who has inherited the patent-happy East Texas court that once belonged to patent-troll favorite T. John Ward—has enabled Lodsys to threaten developers for months, and perhaps even years, to come."

This is why I stand by my question of corruption. Another commenter posted about no one finding corruption out of normal bounds. At least someone has been looking into it. But when you smell smoke, something's burning. These cases keep getting the same rulings over and over, in one area of the country, by the same judges, in an area of business that is essentially parasitic and damaging to the very nature of my industry. It has to stop

Re: Judge tosses Apple motion, allows patent troll Lodsys to continue rampage

#28

Post by javajosh »

The threat that Lodsys represents to anyone doing technology is so large that it would seem to make sense to band together. I'm thinking along the lines of creating a "Patent Defense Cooperative" where members pay a certain amount every month for the three purposes of a) patent lawsuit insurance, b) to fund lobbying efforts to reform the patent system, and c) scrutinize a judicial apparatus that seems biased in favor of patent trolls.

I would certainly join such an organization as an individual inventor and technologist. This can't be a new idea. Has anyone else thought of doing this?

Re: Judge tosses Apple motion, allows patent troll Lodsys to continue rampage

#29

Post by alexqgb »

dctoedt wrote: post #23
mistercow wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't terms like "probable" and "my hypothesis" pretty obviously make this a statement of opinion, and therefore immune to libel claims?

> Don't terms like "probable" and "my hypothesis" pretty obviously make this a statement of opinion, and therefore immune to libel claims? Quite possibly. But who wants to spend the legal fees to test that? Pragmatically, it's better to stay reasonably far away from the edge of that particular cliff, lest one be propelled over the edge by a random gust of wind (or a well-placed push).

The FUD you're spreading here relies on apples to oranges comparisons, where the apples are public officials working in thee public capacity, and the oranges are private citizens.

Before you go any further, I challenge you to find actual apples to apples examples that can support your remarkably menacing position.

Re: Judge tosses Apple motion, allows patent troll Lodsys to continue rampage

#30

Post by dctoedt »

geuis wrote: post #27
dctoedt wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why hasn't anyone addressed the probable criminal activity going on with these handful of judges in this one district of Texas? ... My hypothesis is there's a payoff racket going on. There's a multi level system setup with a few insiders who know how to pay off the local judges to dismiss certain cases. Careful there. Unless you've got more than a hypothesis, what you're saying borders on the libelous. (Not that a…

Thanks for a well-discussed and well-thought response, which is more than the other responses garnered. "Go back to Slashdot", "You're a biggot", etc. I say what I think and while some people don't like what I say, I try to be as realistic about a situation as I can be. So yes, on average Texans are among the most devout Christians and among the worst educated in the United States. There are more than enough public s…

> It's actually exactly the response I would expect from someone or a group who are involved in nefarious acts and are being called out on it.

For what it's worth, when I was a patent litigator back in the day, I worked almost entirely on the defense side of the docket; that was coincidental, but I wasn't unhappy about it.

--------

> ... there was no mutual settlement here. Lodsys was allowed to unilaterally settle.

There's no such thing as a unilateral settlement in a lawsuit; both the plaintiff and the defendant in question must agree, otherwise there's no settlement. (Exception: A plaintiff can unilaterally dismiss its lawsuit against one or more defendants, without prejudice, but only if it does so before the defendant in question files an answer or motion for summary judgment.)

My guess -- unencumbered by any knowledge of the case -- is that Lodsys made a generous settlement offer to its defendants so that the case would become moot, in the hope that this would cut the ground out from under Apple's motion. If that was Lodsys's intent, it seems to have worked -- for now. From what I can tell from the report, there'd be nothing nefarious about a strategic withdrawal of that kind.

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