East Texas Patent Trolls

Well, hold on. The problem is/was E.D./TX but not because jurors in EDTX have reverence for patents; rather:* EDTX judges move cases faster than most other districts, which makes legal threats by NPEs (small companies for which presumably all revenues come from judgements and settlements) more credible.* EDTX judges have well-defined rules for handling patent cases, unlike venues that see far fewer patent cases, which again makes filing there easier.* EDTX is among the more plaintiff-fr

He's referring to the Eastern District of Texas which is infamous for patent trolls. A small number of judges find in favor of patent trolls far more often than the rest of the nation.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_District_Court_f...

This is such a widely known situation in legal circles.The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas described by the NYT is known as the "rocket docket" and the go-to forum for patent trolls.A friend who is a patent litigator in a major US IP law practice, recently was moved to TX to be near the Court's location. Relocation driven by the disproportionate economic activity surrounding that jurisdiction.Hope the Supremes will do something to mitigate

This was from East Texas where there is no such thing as a bad patent and there is no jury award too big. Note that the two companies are within a few miles of each other and the case could have been tried in SF Federal Court, but then the SF court might have taken a reasoned approach to the case. I hope Apple appeals.

These cases are in the Eastern District of Texas. EDTX allows plaintiffs to choose their judge. Judge Gilstrap does not believe in the precedential validity of Alice v. CLS Bank and prohibits defendants from making motions based on it unless he specifically invites them, which he doesn't do.And that judge gets about one fourth of all patent cases in the country.The Federal Circuit abolished the law (still on the books but null and void) that required patent litigation to be brought in

It's the judges and the court - somehow a mindset has developed there which is at odds with most other patent cases in the US. This is a part of the country which has very little, so big corporations fighting patent cases bring a lot of money into the area and prestige to a court which otherwise would be in a backwater. It's a federal court, so the same laws apply as anywhere else, but there's enough wiggle room in the way those laws are written to allow this kind of "bad fai

Based on many of the cases that have come from there, I would state that they are no more familiar with technology, software, and patents then any other district. It's just that for some reason or another they are pro-plaintiff in these cases. The articles suggests the possible cause of that lay in the judges themselves since Newegg was apparently not allowed to argue to invalidate the patents in the first place, which was stupid. A higher court agreed and reversed the decision so I fail to see

Could someone explain what the thing with East Texas is?A district where juries and judges are more favorable than usual towards patents? This sound kind-of ridiculous, no? Can't the defending companies find similar anti-patent areas and file counter-suites there?

Not "Texas" but "the Eastern District of Texas" specifically. Things supposedly have changed after a supreme court ruling limiting where such cases can be filed [1,2]. The top location for this type of lawsuit now seems to be Delaware.[1] https://www.

Doesn't Texas also have the big patent troll magnet district? Seems like there's an issue down there with courts operating as entrepreneurial ventures.