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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]

#321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google could agree to indemnify app developers for legal fees. There are certain restrictions on other people paying for your legal defense but it's commonly done subject to those restrictions. They could also take the first app developer to get sued under the patent and pay for them to file a CBM review. Or file an IPR or PGR in their own right seeking to invalidate the patent.

If Google just paid for the defense of the developers, without patent reform, wouldn't that just encourage more patent trolls to arise, knowing there is a massive pot of gold?

Only if the trolls won. On the other hand, if Google's lawyers gave them the smack down then all the patent trolls would go scurrying back under the rocks they crawled out from

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

#322

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://…

According to the wikipedia page for the Eastern District of Texas both of the judges he names are retired from the court, one in 2011 and one in 2015. How does he claim in 2016 that these judges are presiding on his case and cases like it?

He got sued in 2012, and it's still going.

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

#323
post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good question. What's the alternative for delivering software to a consumer market? Many people have Android phones.

Webapps...

Web does not and will never have the same quality of experience as a native application.

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

#324
post #150
post #126

What about making an "anti patent troll" website that will allow users to share their legal approaches and documents and the rest of the defense materials. Some of them may be reusable. I guess it should significantly limit the legal costs for everyone and improve their position against trolls, right?

I was toying with doing that. Even got a domain name. Might be a bit of a hassle though. Dunno. Thoughts anyone? Would it help? Would I get sued?

IANAL but I'd setup the corporate entity outside the US and hire a mail forwarding service of some kind to redirect all the mail to your home.

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

#325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good question. What's the alternative for delivering software to a consumer market? Many people have Android phones.

It would be interesting to offer a curated App store with patent indemnification and malware scanning on Android. Do the whole thing, the APIs the eco-system. Without a particular vendor lock in (like amazon fire for example) you might be able to capture the Chinese OEM market which would be a lot of devices. Very hard road to travel though.

Speaking of app stores for Android, there’s also F-Droid¹, although admittedly, it’s not much of a 'store' considering it only lists FOSS (Free and Open Source Software).

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¹ — https://f-droid.org/

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

#326
post #7

Judge Davis retired May 15, 2015 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Davis_(judge)

And what has such a man accomplished at the end of his life?

Probably made a ton of money by ruining people's lives.

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

#328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're wondering about the ethics of beating someone up to get what you want?

My view is admittedly a bit on the extreme side (to put it mildly) but I'd see it as similar to hunting Somali pirates or Congolese poachers for sport. There are things a human can do to set themselves apart from the rest of humanity, and patent trolling is one of them. Patent trolls don't rise (sink) to the level of child molesters, serial killers or ISIS terrorists, but still... I wouldn't shed any tears if somethi…

I think it is important to acknowledge why people do things they do.

- Somali pirates and Congolese poachers: poor and miserable conditions with no perspective to get out of it

- patent trolls: greedy, moral-less legal positivists

- serial killers: psychopaths

- ISIS terrorists: brainwashed losers, who want easy answers, a mission, a group and a leader

- child molesters: I would say mentally ill

If you see it like this, you can fix the problems below. You will still have to protect society from serial killers, but all others seem to be solvable.

- African criminals: fix Africa

- legal positivists: fix the law

- ISIS terrorists: fix ghettos

- child molesters: fix paedophilia

Of course this will only fix the problem for future generations. Potential patent trolls will be assholes in a post-troll world, too, but you will always have to deal with those. There are paedophiles who are not human scum, but are aware what consequences their actions could have. That is also why the catholic church with its celibacy is so attractive to some of them.

I personally think that institutions must act perfectly morally, but personally affected individuals should be required ultima ratio to act against morals and be later judged and punished for it. So in this case, when you are a small developer and there is no way out …

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

#329
Would incorporating your tech company in England instead of the USA protect your company from these patent troll lawsuits? It's extremely easy to start a company based in England, even as a US citizen living in the USA. With the patent trolling this out of control in the US at the moment, would basing your company abroad offer you any protection?
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