7 ms·
Trolls still always have the option of filing in East Texas. As long as they can rely on a nest of less than objective judges eager to serve troll interests, t
by WildUtah 13y ago
Trolls still always have the option of filing in East Texas.
As long as they can rely on a nest of less than objective judges eager to serve troll interests, they don't have to worry about fee awards. The decision left a lot of power to the discretion of district judges so a single predictably biased district can corrupt the whole national system.
The Rep. Goodlatte bill that was passed by the house would make fee awards routine and then East Texas judges would have to justify not awarding fees. That would be a much better reform.
The Leahy senate bill will probably be a very tiny change in the existing language because Leahy's trial lawyer supporters don't want to loser pays principle to gain a foothold. Leahy -- and most trial lawyers -- have said that patent cases are an exception the the general principle, but they aren't ready to let any wholesale reform happen on this point. Usually trial lawyers argue that loser pays disadvantages vulnerable victims; most federal civil plaintiffs are much poorer and smaller than defendants. In patent cases, the opposite is true; patents are the tools of trolls and big companies to extort and destroy innovative small businesses. Most patent cases are brought by established wealthy troll agglomerators against companies that could not conceivably afford a full trial.
See here for how biased cases are to E Texas already:
http://patentlyo.com/patent/2014/04/district-courts-patent.html http://patentlyo.com/patent/2014/04/district-courts-patent.h...
- brownbat 13y agoJudges in Texas are elected. (Which is pretty ridiculous considering prosecutors, defenders, and litigants can contribute to judicial campaigns... during the course of a trial.) I'm surprised no one has run as a Judge in East Texas while soliciting campaign contributions from tech companies.
- koenigdavidmj 13y agoPatent cases are handled in federal court, so they are appointed, just like in other federal courts. This is the infamous East Texas court: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_District_Court_for_the_Eastern_District_of_Texas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_District_Court_fo...
- brownbat 13y agoUgh, stupid mistake, I feel like a 1L again. Thanks for correcting the record. :)
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- uuid_to_string 13y agoAren't a couple of those "less than objective" judges coming up on retirement? What then?
- ghshephard 13y agoRegarding East Texas - doesn't it make sense to have patent lawsuits judged by those with a lost of experience in that field? I'm genuinely curious - is there any evidence to suggest, that other than efficiency, East Texas is more likely to find in favor of the Plaintiff?
- mattmanser 13y agoThis is linked from the wiki entry: http://www.technologyreview.com/news/405259/a-haven-for-patent-pirates/?PM=GO http://www.technologyreview.com/news/405259/a-haven-for-pate... Which claims (on page 2): patent plaintiffs whose cases go to trial in Marshall win 88 percent of the time, according to research firm Legalmetric, compared with 68 percent nationwide That was from Feb 2006 though, so you really need to find more up to date info.
- WildUtah 13y agoPatent judges with experience seem like a good idea at first, but they quickly become patent maximalists that always favor patent holders against small businesses and innovators. Specialist judges that handle one subject area in particular become corrupt and beholden to the bar that specializes in that litigation. [0] All judges should face a diverse docket for the sake of open and just courts. [0] http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/how-a-rogue-appea.. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/how-a-rogue-appea....