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East Texas judge throws out 168 patent cases

arstechnica.com

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Re: East Texas judge throws out 168 patent cases

#11

Post by AnimalMuppet »

saosebastiao wrote: post #6

Is it normal in other areas of the law for the plaintiff to be able to choose the (extremely favorable) district and judge for the case? Cause I can't imagine this happening in any other area of law, either civil or criminal. It just doesn't seem right, especially when the bias is so clearly observable. IANAL though...

You can file in any jurisdiction in which you have legal standing to file, which means any jurisdiction in which harm has been done to you. If you patent something, and someone infringes on it, and sells the infringing device nation-wide, this means that you can pick any jurisdiction nation-wide to sue them in.

Normally, you pick the one that you live in, so that you don't have to travel. But for patents, many people pick East Texas, since they're more likely to get the verdict they want there.

Re: East Texas judge throws out 168 patent cases

#12

Post by kanzure »

Alex3917 wrote: post #5
hga wrote: post #3

Heh. More evidence for something I've been hearing for a while, the mass quantities of patent lawsuits in this "rocket docket" has had the side effect of educating everyone in it about this area of law, and it's getting harder to win a bad case.

All of the software patent trolls are pretty much going to be out of business in the next 12 - 18 months. It costs millions of dollars to run these operations, and most of them haven't been making any income for 2+ years now. All the smart trolls have moved on to trolling PTAB, and the dumb ones are just holding out hope that they either hit one last jackpot or else find some other way to monetize their portfolio.

> All of the software patent trolls are pretty much going to be out of business in the next 12 - 18 months

Sounds like an opportunity to me. They might have existing licensing revenue and they are going to be wondering what to do if patent trolling ain't the name of their game anymore.

Re: East Texas judge throws out 168 patent cases

#13

Post by monochromatic »

hga wrote: post #3

Heh. More evidence for something I've been hearing for a while, the mass quantities of patent lawsuits in this "rocket docket" has had the side effect of educating everyone in it about this area of law, and it's getting harder to win a bad case.

This is a decision from Judge Gilstrap though, not from a jury. So it doesn't have anything to do with "educating everyone."

Re: East Texas judge throws out 168 patent cases

#14

Post by Zikes »

hga wrote: post #3

Heh. More evidence for something I've been hearing for a while, the mass quantities of patent lawsuits in this "rocket docket" has had the side effect of educating everyone in it about this area of law, and it's getting harder to win a bad case.

Hopefully this means folks will have more opportunities for appeals on cases that were managed under less knowledgeable judges.

Re: East Texas judge throws out 168 patent cases

#15

Post by stanleydrew »

Progress is slow when it comes to patent reform. Judges have a lot of control over how fast it happens, since they're really the only ones who can make binding decisions.

Of course it would be great if the patent office had made better decisions in the first place, but that ship sailed long ago.

Re: East Texas judge throws out 168 patent cases

#16

Post by x5n1 »

stanleydrew wrote: post #15

Progress is slow when it comes to patent reform. Judges have a lot of control over how fast it happens, since they're really the only ones who can make binding decisions. Of course it would be great if the patent office had made better decisions in the first place, but that ship sailed long ago.

... and the legislature can reform all of this over night, but big money and big business won't let it. they like the safety of patents even if they are not going to war with them. same mentally as guns i guess.

Re: East Texas judge throws out 168 patent cases

#17

Post by dragonwriter »

monochromatic wrote: post #13
hga wrote: post #3

Heh. More evidence for something I've been hearing for a while, the mass quantities of patent lawsuits in this "rocket docket" has had the side effect of educating everyone in it about this area of law, and it's getting harder to win a bad case.

This is a decision from Judge Gilstrap though, not from a jury. So it doesn't have anything to do with "educating everyone."

Federal judges are not created with deep and intimate practical knowledge born of experience of the ins and outs of every area of federal law; they get educated by experience like anyone else.

Re: East Texas judge throws out 168 patent cases

#18

Post by Floegipoky »

x5n1 wrote: post #16
stanleydrew wrote: post #15

Progress is slow when it comes to patent reform. Judges have a lot of control over how fast it happens, since they're really the only ones who can make binding decisions. Of course it would be great if the patent office had made better decisions in the first place, but that ship sailed long ago.

... and the legislature can reform all of this over night, but big money and big business won't let it. they like the safety of patents even if they are not going to war with them. same mentally as guns i guess.

*Systemic corruption won't let it

Let's call it what it is

Re: East Texas judge throws out 168 patent cases

#19

Post by tacon »

devit wrote: post #9
Alex3917 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of the software patent trolls are pretty much going to be out of business in the next 12 - 18 months. It costs millions of dollars to run these operations, and most of them haven't been making any income for 2+ years now. All the smart trolls have moved on to trolling PTAB, and the dumb ones are just holding out hope that they either hit one last jackpot or else find some other way to monetize their portfolio.

What does "trolling PTAB" mean?

>Scott McKeown has identified what he believes are some instances of parties not involved in a case of patent litigation using the inter partes review (IPR) procedure to squeeze money out of patent owners who’ve won court cases but haven’t yet received a check. Since IPRs are conducted by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) you could call these operators “PTAB Trolls.”

[1]http://www.ipnav.com/blog/ptab-trolls-going-after-patent-own...

Re: East Texas judge throws out 168 patent cases

#20

Post by larrys »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #11
saosebastiao wrote: post #6

Is it normal in other areas of the law for the plaintiff to be able to choose the (extremely favorable) district and judge for the case? Cause I can't imagine this happening in any other area of law, either civil or criminal. It just doesn't seem right, especially when the bias is so clearly observable. IANAL though...

You can file in any jurisdiction in which you have legal standing to file, which means any jurisdiction in which harm has been done to you. If you patent something, and someone infringes on it, and sells the infringing device nation-wide, this means that you can pick any jurisdiction nation-wide to sue them in. Normally, you pick the one that you live in, so that you don't have to travel. But for patents, many people…

"so that you don't have to travel."

Or perhaps better actually where your attorneys are located?

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