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I don't think it is as clear cut as flat out bribery but these judges know what side their bread is buttered. They live there. They are friends with hotel and

I don't think it is as clear cut as flat out bribery but these judges know what side their bread is buttered. They live there. They are friends with hotel and restaurant owners. Their family members are local patent attorneys. They have relatives that own 'commercial office buildings' that are nothing more than empty offices for a convenient mailing address for shell companies. If they started looking less friendly to plaintiffs they know all of that out-of-town cash would dry up to a great extent. They would become a pariah, which, in a small town is not something you can easily hide from. *Edit: The same can be said for the juries as well.

rayiner 13y ago
These are federal judges. They have life tenure. Fewer patent cases just means more time for golf.
- Iftheshoefits 13y ago
  I think the commenter's point was that simply having life tenure as a judge isn't the only potential motivation for their alleged bias toward patent trolls. That, in fact, their friends' and families' stakes in local businesses (e.g. the shell 'office' suites these patent trolls incorporate in) provide additional indirect motivation for the judges to keep the patent troll gravy train rolling. Peer pressure, especially from close friends and family, and doubly in small towns, is incredibly motivating for most people.
  - harryh 13y ago
    Patent troll companies spend a lot of money for shell 'office' suites? I don't think that's actually true.
    - clavalle 13y ago
      http://www.marshallofficespace.com/ http://www.marshallofficespace.com/ First thing that popped up when Googling 'tyler texas federal court office suites' I was not saying these offices are some kind of grift, just that these cases are a big part of the local economy. The backbone of related local cottage industry. And these types of offices are just one example of that industry that is so important to these judge's and jury's community.

rayiner 13y ago

These are federal judges. They have life tenure. Fewer patent cases just means more time for golf.

Iftheshoefits 13y ago
I think the commenter's point was that simply having life tenure as a judge isn't the only potential motivation for their alleged bias toward patent trolls. That, in fact, their friends' and families' stakes in local businesses (e.g. the shell 'office' suites these patent trolls incorporate in) provide additional indirect motivation for the judges to keep the patent troll gravy train rolling. Peer pressure, especially from close friends and family, and doubly in small towns, is incredibly motivating for most people.
- harryh 13y ago
  Patent troll companies spend a lot of money for shell 'office' suites? I don't think that's actually true.
  - clavalle 13y ago
    http://www.marshallofficespace.com/ http://www.marshallofficespace.com/ First thing that popped up when Googling 'tyler texas federal court office suites' I was not saying these offices are some kind of grift, just that these cases are a big part of the local economy. The backbone of related local cottage industry. And these types of offices are just one example of that industry that is so important to these judge's and jury's community.