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For anyone looking for an ~20 minute intro to why this is a big deal and the impact it has on small tech companies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG9UMMq2dz4
by dangerlibrary 9y ago
For anyone looking for an ~20 minute intro to why this is a big deal and the impact it has on small tech companies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG9UMMq2dz4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG9UMMq2dz4
tl;dw: There are some over-broad patents on usage of very common technologies (using wifi or selling on the google play store are two egregious examples) that are being used as a bludgeon against small and medium sized firms that can't afford to defend themselves. It costs about $3 million to defend against such a suit, and the Eastern district is known for refusing to force plaintiffs to pay defendant's attorney's fees even if the suit is ultimately dropped.
- lightedman 9y agoSue the Eastern District for unequal application of the law. It's easily provable with the current track record.
- clamprecht 9y agoCan you even sue a court? Seems too good to be true.
- vivekd 9y agono - the best you can do is get it appealed to a higher court.
- kevindkeogh 9y agoNot in this case. You would need to have standing and a relevant claim to sue any person or firm. I would think it would pretty difficult to show sort of generalized claim about the injustices of the patent system. That is a political question, not a legal question.
- justinclift 9y agoClass action by victims of patent trolls?
- nerdponx 9y agoCould a tech company, as a potential futute patent holder, sue?
- staticautomatic 9y agoYes, there are ways to sue the courts themselves, but not for something like this. The suit would generally be in the form of what's called a Writ of Mandate. It's basically a lawsuit for when you have no other legal recourse for something. For example, if you went to a courthouse and asked for a copy of a statutorily public document but they refused to give it to you, you could file a such a writ. It would force the court to at least give you a hearing before a judge, who you'd ask to compel the court personnel to give you what you asked for.
- pg_is_a_butt 9y agobuy guns
- SparkyMcUnicorn 9y agoSounds great, but it seems like something Newegg or Costco's lawyers would have started on already if it were feasible.
- jhall1468 9y agoCostco's golf ball case was filed in the state where it's headquartered: Washington.
- dangerlibrary 9y agoOnly because Costco pre-emptively sued the patent holding company in order to choose the venue.
- jhall1468 9y agoTrue, but the point was, Costco doesn't have cause to do anything in East Texas.
- logicallee 9y agojust wanted to thank you for providing this summary.
- monochromatic 9y agoUnfortunately, there's a lot of misinformation and half-truth in that video.
- Banthum 9y agoI'd be very interested in specifics on this.
- staticautomatic 9y agoI work in the field, and on both sides of patent litigation. As far as I can see, there is no misinformation or half-truths in that video. What he's talking about is entirely real and relatively common, but it is not categorically true of all trolls.
- blazespin 9y agoI dunno, I think it will just introduce more variability and stretch out the cases. East Rural texas was actually pretty good at litigating patents because they knew a lot about it since they did so many. Better would be to reform the patent law, maybe create short term 5 year patents or something.
- mattnewton 9y agoThey did so many because of their notorious pro-patent holder stance made them the favorite place to file.