5 ms·

Could this also be because the judge in that district court is about to retire and most of the patent lawsuits were filed by his sons who are attorneys in the s

Could this also be because the judge in that district court is about to retire and most of the patent lawsuits were filed by his sons who are attorneys in the same district court holding several shell companies? Update: my source is this mind blowing documentary called Patent Scam (on amazon prime) which mentioned this conflict of interest. It’s way too unbelievable, but I believe it is true because otherwise the movie maker would be sued like crazy if it was a lie.

adventured 9y ago
I've read the collusion articles about that, that have been published in the last few years. It's obviously pretty terrible. Do you have specific data on the claim you're making? Around 10,000 patent lawsuits were filed over ten years in the Eastern District, you're saying over 5,000 were filed just by the sons?
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  Commenting in lieu of voting, because of conflicting factors: I would have upvoted this post, but for the extensive complaint about downvotes; from the guidelines: "Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading."
  - adventured 9y ago
    I'm aware of the guideline about commenting on voting. I broadly agree with it. In cases of what appear to be extremely abnormal voting behavior (asking a very simple, legitimate question and getting thrashed by downvotes), I regard it as a reasonable issue to raise.
    - DoreenMichele 9y ago
      It's a big forum. Sometimes waiting is hard, but initial voting patterns do not necessarily predict the long term outcome. It can be interesting to watch it play out.
      - adventured 9y ago
        It's an interesting pattern. Frankly I think I may have rubbed enough people the wrong way over time across a thousand discussions that I've got a following of persistent downvoters. My simple reply one level above you is currently enjoying the downvote parade. A year ago, I rarely to never saw that kind of pattern, now every other thing I post is instantly downvoted, usually aggressively (even simple questions). I don't know what to make of it, except it drives me to not want to participate in discussions here. The biggest downvote parade I think I've ever received on this site, was for defending gay rights a few months back. I upset a bunch of downvoters by discussing the facts of inequality globally around gay marriage (emphasis on that I was relying on facts, not emotional argumentation). How do you deal with that kind of intellectual mob mentality however? Do you ask for an explanation from the downvoters, or do you just leave the voting unchallenged? Sometimes it seems so bizarre, I can't help but ask.
        IntronExon 9y ago
        I don’t know what you’re experiencing, but this leaped out at me. ...except it drives me to not want to participate in discussions here. Sounds like the purpose of the behavior you’re describing.
        DoreenMichele 9y ago
        I appear to be the only woman to have ever made the leaderboard (under a different handle). I absolutely get downvotes that I suspect boil down to "shut up, bitch." I have handled it by doing some of the following things: 1. Make sure I am actually being respectful and not an asshole. 2. Walk the fuck away and shut up sometimes. 3. I left for 18 months, to work on my issues and to give someone breathing room that I had friction with whom I felt saw me as personally threatening. I didn't have specific plans to return. I did return in part because posting something one day went better than I expected. 4. Drop it from my end when there is personal friction. This gets vastly better results when I point out someone is behaving poorly towards me. Sometimes they listen. If they don't, the mods (and community as a whole) are much more likely to be sympathetic if I am not putting out the fire with gasoline. I routinely comment on hot button topics. I have extremely controversial views on some things. But I go out of my way to not piss on people to the best of my ability. This has included changing my handle after hitting the leaderboard because I concluded that it didn't matter that it wasn't chosen as a feminist handle. What matters is that it is an overwhelmingly male forum and I want no appearance of impropriety as the first woman on the leaderboard. The perception of disrespect became apparent to me and was not something I wanted. So I started over. I am vastly more satisfied with posting under this handle. Lots of people recognize me as also being Mz. So the difference is not due to being anonymous. (This comment is not comprehensive. Just a nutshell version of 8.5 years of navigating an overwhelmingly male forum while posting as openly female.)
- calvinbhai 9y ago
  Updated my comment with source info. Based on that documentary, every case if filed on behalf of a shell company, many of which lead to the same bunch of attorneys. So, its not me saying, but the movie says so. In that documentary, you can see the frustrations on many of those entrepreneurs and medium sized companies who have been screwed over by these scumbags. Why dont most people hear about this? Because settlement includes NDA that prevents those who have been screwed over, to talk about how they have been screwed.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
tomerico 9y ago
Is that the case? Wouldn't a simple conflict of interest test disqualify him from being a judge when his son is a party in the lawsuit?
- calvinbhai 9y ago
  updated my comment with my source of info
dragonwriter 9y ago
> Could this also be because the judge in that district court is about to retire and most of the patent lawsuits were filed by his sons who are attorneys in the same district court holding several shell companies? Probably not; even if such a conflict has grown up during the EDTX dominance (and the risk of such a scheme being discovered is quite high -- litigants with lots at stake do, in fact, actively investigate for potential conflicts on the part of the judge -- and in addition to being likely to get everyone involved disbarred is one of the things that would be likely to get a US federal judge impeached, so it would take amazing gall to try it), the most famous judge in the district for handling large volumes of patent cases came to the bench in the district after it's dominance from being known as the "rocket docket" with short time from filing to resolution became known, and the various procedural rules that make the district (which has 7 district and 9 magistrate judges, its not a one-judge shop) plaintiff friendly are well-known. Its much more likely that the Supreme Court case mentioned in the Ars article which sharply limits which districts a patent case can be filed in by clarifying that a corporation is "resident", for purposes of venue, only in that state in which it is actually incorporated is, in fact, what is altering venue selection for patent cases.
btown 9y ago
There's some outdated information here: Davis and Ward are former judges for the district, and both "have sons who are attorneys with patent-focused legal practices" in the district. However, both have now retired [0]. The current judge in Marshall, Rodney Gilstrap, does have a son, but one who does not practice patent litigation [1] [2]. [3] gives a lot more information about the origin of the rules that made East Texas initially attractive, as well as how "there are signs [Gilstrap] is starting to crack down on patent trolls." It's a much more nuanced story, with a clear narrative of how judges acting in good faith might design rules like this to speed up litigation... and I'm unsure how much a judiciary can or should take into account e.g. parties' abilities to pay for discovery, one of the main contributors to the environment here [4], when deciding on those rules. Federal legislative reform would be the clearest path here, but that's hard to come by these days. (I am not a lawyer.) [0] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/04/east-texas-judge-who-oversaw-1700-patent-cases-joins-biggest-ip-law-firm/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/04/east-texas-judge... [1] http://mcsmith.blogs.com/eastern_district_of_texas/2011/05/judge-rodney-gilstrap-of-marshall-named-for-eastern-district-judgeship.html http://mcsmith.blogs.com/eastern_district_of_texas/2011/05/j... [2] https://www.velaw.com/Who-We-Are/Find-a-Lawyer/Gilstrap--Stephen/ https://www.velaw.com/Who-We-Are/Find-a-Lawyer/Gilstrap--Ste... [3] https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/aek3pp/the-small-town-judge-who-sees-a-quarter-of-the-nations-patent-cases https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/aek3pp/the-small-... [4] http://www.patentprogress.org/2014/05/21/popular-patent-judge-shows-need-discovery-reform/ http://www.patentprogress.org/2014/05/21/popular-patent-judg...
- calvinbhai 9y ago
  Thanks for that reply! My understanding of this issue is solely based on the Patent Scam movie. Its actually made by the person who got sued because he sold an app on Google Play store! (basically anyone selling on Play Store could be sued this way). In addition to the burden of discovery that you have mentioned, the fact that US allows an idea to be patented, is the root cause of this pain. Once that is addressed, innovation can thrive.
c3534l 9y ago
> I believe it is true because otherwise the movie maker would be sued like crazy if it was a lie. That's a truly terrible standard of evidence. The fact that a documentary maker hasn't been sued isn't evidence of anything.
- daveFNbuck 9y ago
  And I bet his only evidence that the maker of the film hasn't been sued is that he was able to watch the movie, making his standard basically that anything you see in a documentary must be true.
- calvinbhai 9y ago
  Not disagreeing with you. It may be a ‘truly terrible standard of evidence’, but there’s no evidence to prove the contrary for me to consider the other side’s arguments.
fncypants 9y ago
This "documentary" is a defamatory hit job by someone who (rightfully or wrongfully) was on the receiving end of a patent infringement suit. It needs to go away. There is much more serious discussions that need be had about the patent system than the theories and falsities raised by this guy. The judges and other professionals working in the district are just that--professionals. There is no secret cabal of lawyers conspiring to screw tech companies there. The judges and courts are not biased against defendants and trying to screw them. There may be a tendency of to protect the district (e.g., avoid transfers of cases out), since the judges see themselves as stewards of the community in which they serve. But that has no bearing on the merits of the case or who wins. And recent changes in the law have significantly mitigated this. The judges are very knowledgeable at patent law, being very experienced in the domain. Source: Am a lawyer that has practiced over a decade there, represented both sides of the "v.", also appears in numerous other courts around the country, and has obtained multiple decisions from different EDTX judges forcing patent trolls to pay my clients' attorneys' fees for frivolous lawsuits.

adventured 9y ago

I've read the collusion articles about that, that have been published in the last few years. It's obviously pretty terrible. Do you have specific data on the claim you're making? Around 10,000 patent lawsuits were filed over ten years in the Eastern District, you're saying over 5,000 were filed just by the sons?

dragonwriter 9y ago
Commenting in lieu of voting, because of conflicting factors: I would have upvoted this post, but for the extensive complaint about downvotes; from the guidelines: "Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading."
- adventured 9y ago
  I'm aware of the guideline about commenting on voting. I broadly agree with it. In cases of what appear to be extremely abnormal voting behavior (asking a very simple, legitimate question and getting thrashed by downvotes), I regard it as a reasonable issue to raise.
  - DoreenMichele 9y ago
    It's a big forum. Sometimes waiting is hard, but initial voting patterns do not necessarily predict the long term outcome. It can be interesting to watch it play out.
    - adventured 9y ago
      It's an interesting pattern. Frankly I think I may have rubbed enough people the wrong way over time across a thousand discussions that I've got a following of persistent downvoters. My simple reply one level above you is currently enjoying the downvote parade. A year ago, I rarely to never saw that kind of pattern, now every other thing I post is instantly downvoted, usually aggressively (even simple questions). I don't know what to make of it, except it drives me to not want to participate in discussions here. The biggest downvote parade I think I've ever received on this site, was for defending gay rights a few months back. I upset a bunch of downvoters by discussing the facts of inequality globally around gay marriage (emphasis on that I was relying on facts, not emotional argumentation). How do you deal with that kind of intellectual mob mentality however? Do you ask for an explanation from the downvoters, or do you just leave the voting unchallenged? Sometimes it seems so bizarre, I can't help but ask.
      - IntronExon 9y ago
        I don’t know what you’re experiencing, but this leaped out at me. ...except it drives me to not want to participate in discussions here. Sounds like the purpose of the behavior you’re describing.
      - DoreenMichele 9y ago
        I appear to be the only woman to have ever made the leaderboard (under a different handle). I absolutely get downvotes that I suspect boil down to "shut up, bitch." I have handled it by doing some of the following things: 1. Make sure I am actually being respectful and not an asshole. 2. Walk the fuck away and shut up sometimes. 3. I left for 18 months, to work on my issues and to give someone breathing room that I had friction with whom I felt saw me as personally threatening. I didn't have specific plans to return. I did return in part because posting something one day went better than I expected. 4. Drop it from my end when there is personal friction. This gets vastly better results when I point out someone is behaving poorly towards me. Sometimes they listen. If they don't, the mods (and community as a whole) are much more likely to be sympathetic if I am not putting out the fire with gasoline. I routinely comment on hot button topics. I have extremely controversial views on some things. But I go out of my way to not piss on people to the best of my ability. This has included changing my handle after hitting the leaderboard because I concluded that it didn't matter that it wasn't chosen as a feminist handle. What matters is that it is an overwhelmingly male forum and I want no appearance of impropriety as the first woman on the leaderboard. The perception of disrespect became apparent to me and was not something I wanted. So I started over. I am vastly more satisfied with posting under this handle. Lots of people recognize me as also being Mz. So the difference is not due to being anonymous. (This comment is not comprehensive. Just a nutshell version of 8.5 years of navigating an overwhelmingly male forum while posting as openly female.)
calvinbhai 9y ago
Updated my comment with source info. Based on that documentary, every case if filed on behalf of a shell company, many of which lead to the same bunch of attorneys. So, its not me saying, but the movie says so. In that documentary, you can see the frustrations on many of those entrepreneurs and medium sized companies who have been screwed over by these scumbags. Why dont most people hear about this? Because settlement includes NDA that prevents those who have been screwed over, to talk about how they have been screwed.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

tomerico 9y ago

Is that the case? Wouldn't a simple conflict of interest test disqualify him from being a judge when his son is a party in the lawsuit?

calvinbhai 9y ago
updated my comment with my source of info

dragonwriter 9y ago

> Could this also be because the judge in that district court is about to retire and most of the patent lawsuits were filed by his sons who are attorneys in the same district court holding several shell companies? Probably not; even if such a conflict has grown up during the EDTX dominance (and the risk of such a scheme being discovered is quite high -- litigants with lots at stake do, in fact, actively investigate for potential conflicts on the part of the judge -- and in addition to being likely to get everyone involved disbarred is one of the things that would be likely to get a US federal judge impeached, so it would take amazing gall to try it), the most famous judge in the district for handling large volumes of patent cases came to the bench in the district after it's dominance from being known as the "rocket docket" with short time from filing to resolution became known, and the various procedural rules that make the district (which has 7 district and 9 magistrate judges, its not a one-judge shop) plaintiff friendly are well-known. Its much more likely that the Supreme Court case mentioned in the Ars article which sharply limits which districts a patent case can be filed in by clarifying that a corporation is "resident", for purposes of venue, only in that state in which it is actually incorporated is, in fact, what is altering venue selection for patent cases.

btown 9y ago

There's some outdated information here: Davis and Ward are former judges for the district, and both "have sons who are attorneys with patent-focused legal practices" in the district. However, both have now retired [0]. The current judge in Marshall, Rodney Gilstrap, does have a son, but one who does not practice patent litigation [1] [2]. [3] gives a lot more information about the origin of the rules that made East Texas initially attractive, as well as how "there are signs [Gilstrap] is starting to crack down on patent trolls." It's a much more nuanced story, with a clear narrative of how judges acting in good faith might design rules like this to speed up litigation... and I'm unsure how much a judiciary can or should take into account e.g. parties' abilities to pay for discovery, one of the main contributors to the environment here [4], when deciding on those rules. Federal legislative reform would be the clearest path here, but that's hard to come by these days. (I am not a lawyer.) [0] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/04/east-texas-judge-who-oversaw-1700-patent-cases-joins-biggest-ip-law-firm/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/04/east-texas-judge... [1] http://mcsmith.blogs.com/eastern_district_of_texas/2011/05/judge-rodney-gilstrap-of-marshall-named-for-eastern-district-judgeship.html http://mcsmith.blogs.com/eastern_district_of_texas/2011/05/j... [2] https://www.velaw.com/Who-We-Are/Find-a-Lawyer/Gilstrap--Stephen/ https://www.velaw.com/Who-We-Are/Find-a-Lawyer/Gilstrap--Ste... [3] https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/aek3pp/the-small-town-judge-who-sees-a-quarter-of-the-nations-patent-cases https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/aek3pp/the-small-... [4] http://www.patentprogress.org/2014/05/21/popular-patent-judge-shows-need-discovery-reform/ http://www.patentprogress.org/2014/05/21/popular-patent-judg...

calvinbhai 9y ago
Thanks for that reply! My understanding of this issue is solely based on the Patent Scam movie. Its actually made by the person who got sued because he sold an app on Google Play store! (basically anyone selling on Play Store could be sued this way). In addition to the burden of discovery that you have mentioned, the fact that US allows an idea to be patented, is the root cause of this pain. Once that is addressed, innovation can thrive.

c3534l 9y ago

> I believe it is true because otherwise the movie maker would be sued like crazy if it was a lie. That's a truly terrible standard of evidence. The fact that a documentary maker hasn't been sued isn't evidence of anything.

daveFNbuck 9y ago
And I bet his only evidence that the maker of the film hasn't been sued is that he was able to watch the movie, making his standard basically that anything you see in a documentary must be true.
calvinbhai 9y ago
Not disagreeing with you. It may be a ‘truly terrible standard of evidence’, but there’s no evidence to prove the contrary for me to consider the other side’s arguments.

fncypants 9y ago

This "documentary" is a defamatory hit job by someone who (rightfully or wrongfully) was on the receiving end of a patent infringement suit. It needs to go away. There is much more serious discussions that need be had about the patent system than the theories and falsities raised by this guy. The judges and other professionals working in the district are just that--professionals. There is no secret cabal of lawyers conspiring to screw tech companies there. The judges and courts are not biased against defendants and trying to screw them. There may be a tendency of to protect the district (e.g., avoid transfers of cases out), since the judges see themselves as stewards of the community in which they serve. But that has no bearing on the merits of the case or who wins. And recent changes in the law have significantly mitigated this. The judges are very knowledgeable at patent law, being very experienced in the domain. Source: Am a lawyer that has practiced over a decade there, represented both sides of the "v.", also appears in numerous other courts around the country, and has obtained multiple decisions from different EDTX judges forcing patent trolls to pay my clients' attorneys' fees for frivolous lawsuits.