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

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

#161

Post by LeifCarrotson »

readams wrote: post #154
6stringmerc wrote: post #28

So, no attempts to bring Davis in front of the Texas BAR association for unethical practices? I'm also curious why numerous developers have not demanded an Insurance Protection Product / Plan that would take a premium in return for subrogation (defense) if a frivolous Patent Suit is filed. I'm rather certain the market exists and while it may be for larger businesses or players, developers forming a Mutual Company an…

The insurance would cost more than the expected cost of the litigation which is of course how insurance works. They key with the patent system is that you have to pay millions to defend yourself, but it's exceptionally rare to be able to recover attorney's fees even if you win. So in the end it's a choice between capitulating and paying some amount (and perhaps unleashing more trolls in the future) or wasting million…

The insurance would cost more than the expected cost of litigation for the average member. The vast majority of developers will never be sued, but you don't know if you will be among the unlucky few.

See medical malpractice insurance for another example.

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

#162

Post by davemel37 »

mfoy_ wrote: post #26
InvisibleCities wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The gist behind this case is that the Judge's son owns patent law firm in East Texas where they often represent both sides. Isn't this a blatant conflict of interest? If this isn't grounds for disbarment, what is?

Maybe the firm doesn't represent both sides simultaneously. Maybe they usually represent the patent troll, but if someone needs a patent troll defense lawyer they'll do that too. Basically, as long as patent litigation is in town, business is good.

Just to add to this. I am sure the legal community in East Texas is close knit. There may never be blatant impropriety, but no one wants to be on the wrong side of a judge in town.

(i.e the Judges Son tries a case with a different Judge in town, but that Judge is buddies with the other Judges.)

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

#163

Post by ghurtado »

dylan-m wrote: post #102
tronium wrote: post #52

Interestingly, the login button doesn't even work at uniloc.com, and if you look in the source, there's a ton of commented-out paragraphs that say stuff like " The spirit of innovation is alive and well at Uniloc. ".

Fun fact: their website has listings turned on and runs an ancient version of WordPress last touched in 2012. http://www.uniloc.com/wp-content/ It's like they're trying to be as obviously illiterate as they possibly can.

Including publicly accessible database backups. I haven't seen such disregard for security in a very long time.

For a "software security company" they sure are begging for their website to be hacked.

Or maybe it is a honeypot?

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

#164

Post by joe_the_user »

tomglynch wrote: post #8

A comment from a reddit thread states: The gist behind this case is that the Judge's son owns patent law firm in East Texas where they often represent both sides. This guy doesn't live in East Texas. However, the dad lets these stupid cases into the town to bring business to his son. Really shady. I agree with clavelle's comment. It's not so much the laws, but the system that allows this to occur. Link here: https://…

It's worse than that.

The situation is that with patent suits able to be brought anywhere and brought in East Texas by preference, a significant amount of that areas economy is now based on this racket and so the culture of the area is very oriented towards enable patent trolls, especially given a general contempt of outsiders characteristic of a small town.

In the pre-Internet era, one needed to take an unlucky to get murdered or shaken down by the corrupt culture of Smokey And The Bandit style US small towns. The ambiguity of the law and the convenience of entrenched interests now means that

It's been going on for a long time. Recent article: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/How-east-Tex...

2006 article: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/business/24ward.html?pagew...

Choice quote: "'During the TiVo-EchoStar trial, 90 percent of my revenue for one month came from one of the law firms in the case,' said Phillip W. Gurganus, manager of the local 68-room Hampton Inn, where rates run $77 a night." Guess what he'd chose if got on a jury? Certainly a decision that kept business in East Texas.

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

#165

Post by comicjk »

6stringmerc wrote: post #28

So, no attempts to bring Davis in front of the Texas BAR association for unethical practices? I'm also curious why numerous developers have not demanded an Insurance Protection Product / Plan that would take a premium in return for subrogation (defense) if a frivolous Patent Suit is filed. I'm rather certain the market exists and while it may be for larger businesses or players, developers forming a Mutual Company an…

Side note: "bar" as in bar association is not an acronym. It refers to the literal bar or barrier in courtrooms which divides participants from the public.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_(law)

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

#169

Post by peeters »

readams wrote: post #154
6stringmerc wrote: post #28

So, no attempts to bring Davis in front of the Texas BAR association for unethical practices? I'm also curious why numerous developers have not demanded an Insurance Protection Product / Plan that would take a premium in return for subrogation (defense) if a frivolous Patent Suit is filed. I'm rather certain the market exists and while it may be for larger businesses or players, developers forming a Mutual Company an…

The insurance would cost more than the expected cost of the litigation which is of course how insurance works. They key with the patent system is that you have to pay millions to defend yourself, but it's exceptionally rare to be able to recover attorney's fees even if you win. So in the end it's a choice between capitulating and paying some amount (and perhaps unleashing more trolls in the future) or wasting million…

> The insurance would cost more than the expected cost of the litigation which is of course how insurance works. The key with the patent system is that you have to pay millions to defend yourself, but it's exceptionally rare to be able to recover attorney's fees even if you win.

If enough people buy insurance to make sure that the patent trolls never win, then there's no money to be made and the lawyers stop suing. So the price of insurance goes down. It's not like insuring against tornados, which are going to happen regardless of whether the houses are insured. Furthermore, you can state up front "IP Lawsuit Coverage provided by XXX" as a disincentive for people to sue their members in the first place.

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