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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

#51

Post by dctoedt »

mistercow wrote: post #48
dctoedt wrote: post #23

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? 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).

I don't think that's a healthy attitude, especially when we're talking about the possibility of corruption. If we all take that "pragmatic" view, what will actually prevent corruption?

> If we all take that "pragmatic" view, what will actually prevent corruption?

Journalists. They know that you avoid libel by stating facts supported by evidence. Truth is a defense to a libel charge (at least in the U.S.). And as mentioned above, when the libel plaintiff is a "public figure," a higher standard applies, precisely because of the public interest in ferreting out corruption and the like.

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

#52

Post by efa »

drone wrote: post #11
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…

> I'm not speaking out of my ass either. I've lived in Texas. I have family there now. Yes, you are. And you're a bigot to boot.

Everyone knows you are allowed to be bigoted when it's white southerners or Christians. duh!

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

#53

Post by efa »

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…

Just because you lived in Texas doesn't give you a pass in saying such a hateful thing. This is the most ignorant thing I've seen on HN in a long time.

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

#55

Post by benologist »

geuis wrote: post #33
dctoedt wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.…

Oh I'm sorry if I wasn't clear, I'm not attacking you personally. Just to be clear about that. Your response was just a good example of the kinds of tactics guilty parties use sometimes by trying to silence critics. Do you blog about your experiences? One thing I could stand to learn about more are the internals of patent litigation.

So far disagreeing with you = criminal activity, ignorance, small-mindedness, and what 'guilty' parties do to silence their critics.

Alternatively, you might like to consider the possibility your opinions are simply not universal truths.

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

#56

Post by geuis »

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 too late for me to edit my comment. If you read through some of the subsequent discussion you can see where a couple of helpful people cleared up some misconceptions I had when posting initially.

I still think there's something shady going on in that district but I don't want to put forward any specific assertions about criminal activity.

Don't upvote my comment if it sounds like righteous fervor and you agree with it because of that.

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

#57

Post by clavalle »

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…

I don't think it is as clear cut as flat out bribery but these judges know what side their bread is buttered.

They live there. They are friends with hotel and restaurant owners. Their family members are local patent attorneys. They have relatives that own 'commercial office buildings' that are nothing more than empty offices for a convenient mailing address for shell companies.

If they started looking less friendly to plaintiffs they know all of that out-of-town cash would dry up to a great extent. They would become a pariah, which, in a small town is not something you can easily hide from.

*Edit: The same can be said for the juries as well.

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

#58

Post by DenisM »

aspensmonster wrote: post #26
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 h…

In all honesty of would be better if the two of you went somewhere else with your inflammatory rethoric. If you have a case, or a hypothesis for one, state it clearly, and without name-calling. There are enough places on the Internet for mud-slinging, let's keep at least one or two for civilized discourse.

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

#59

Post by clavalle »

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…

> 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.

There is a huge (and growing) underclass in Texas that drags these kind of stats down.

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

#60

Post by moocowduckquack »

wakkalakka wrote: post #43
aspensmonster wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 h…

This is not about red vs. blue, Republican vs. Democrat, liberal vs. conservative, or anything else like it. Everyone tries to get their patent cases heard in this particular district in Texas the same way that everyone incorporates in Delaware. It's one particular legal venue that just happens to be friendly to certain vested interests. The reason to seek out this venue is because of nothing more than apolitical fav…

I see, so they are all pure I.P. idealogues who just happen to think in this way and are in no way influenced by the massive sums of money involved in that area of law, all in one particular district in Texas that has loads of sham company fronts incorporated there, but from the judges side there is nothing dodgy going on and definitely no politics.

I mean, you could be right, but it doesn't seem terribly likely when you look at it.

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