
Many patent holders stop looking to East Texas following Supreme Court ruling - signor_bosco
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/10/patent-cases-in-east-texas-plunge-more-than-60-percent/
======
thaumaturgy
You can get an up-to-date list of ETC patent cases at
[https://dockets.justia.com/browse/state-texas/court-
txedce/n...](https://dockets.justia.com/browse/state-texas/court-
txedce/noscat-10/nos-830)

Just eyeballing it, it does look like new filings have fallen off a cliff.
Good.

It's also remarkably easy to spot the trolls, e.g. "Spider Search Analytics
LLC v. The Home Depot, Inc." and "Spider Search Analytics LLC v. Adidas
America, Inc."; the pattern appears to be "Company you've never heard of
because they're in the business of patent lawsuits vs. Company you've heard of
because they're big enough to sue".

Data-mining this to build a real-time list of patent trolls could be fun.

One of them probably holds a patent on that though and would sue you for doing
it.

~~~
posterboy
> big enough _to be_ sued

fixed this for you, but not really, because usually it's the small firms that
may break under the pressure of suits.

~~~
taejo
The cake is too pretty to eat. The child is too full to eat.

Both are fine. Human language is like that.

~~~
posterboy
What is "that", or rather how? "broken"? Language is inherently underspecific,
yes, but that's the opposite of "fine". The passive is well understood,
therefore it should be used. It just baffles me how coders could glance over
this. I probably would't have said anything if the topic wasn't a legal matter
where precise language is paramount. Suddenly you are framed for cannibalistic
tendencies.

~~~
thaumaturgy
FWIW I agree that your version is more readable, and since I'd like my writing
to not suck someday, I appreciate the edit.

Suggesting edits to others' comments on HN is tricky though because it will
usually at best be off-topic for the conversation, and at worst lead to
several off-topic comments, as in this case. For that reason they tend to get
downvoted.

~~~
posterboy
Well it clarified for me that the focus on big firms was apparently true.

------
willvarfar
East Texas was popular with plaintiffs because it was very troll-friendly.
East Texas knew what side it's bread was buttered.

Delaware is popular with companies because of its tax laws. The Delaware tax
laws are deliberately to attract companies. Delaware knows what side it's
bread is buttered.

I would expect Delaware courts to will be very defendant-friendly.

~~~
wahern
There are plenty of other states with more favorable tax laws than Delaware.
Delaware is popular because of it's well developed corporate caselaw and
unmatched judicial experience, which is particularly attractive to investors
(i.e. potential _plaintiffs_ ) because it minimizes legal risk.

If you want investment, there are only two states to consider when
incorporating: your home state or Delaware. Any other state will give
investors and their legal counsel pause.

~~~
godzillabrennus
Wyoming let’s you pay a registered agent to form a company using a nominee
manager. You can pay in bitcoin with some of them.

No wonder the USA is the best in the world at being a tax haven.

~~~
chimeracoder
> No wonder the USA is the best in the world at being a tax haven.

The US could hardly be any less of a tax haven.

~~~
freddie_mercury
There is a large body of research and a wide variety of actors across the
political spectrum who are all in agreement that the US is one the largest tax
havens in the world. I can only assume that you've never been exposed to any
of that and are simply making a knee-jerk reaction comment.

Here's one recent report from just the past few weeks: "Report Says US Is
World's Second Biggest Tax Haven":
[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-30/u-s-
seen-...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-30/u-s-seen-as-
world-s-second-biggest-tax-haven-after-switzerland)

There are many, many more such things written over decades. Here's a 2009
article from The Economist on the same subject of America's status as one of
the world's premiere tax havens:
[http://www.economist.com/node/13382279](http://www.economist.com/node/13382279)

------
calvinbhai
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.

~~~
c3534l
> 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
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.

------
a_humean
I wonder if this will have an economic impact on the communities of East
Texas.

I think I read somewhere, though I cannot recall where (maybe Ars), that some
companies where investing in community projects, events, and recreational
facilities to improve their brands (essentially bribes) in anticipation of
patent cases coming to the district.

Anyone know where I got that idea from, and if there might be an economic
impact to the region?

~~~
nekoashide
If there was I never saw it, for years I have driven though ETX and its still
nothing but podunk towns. Even the town square around the courthouse in
Marshall was nothing special. It's simply a drive from Dallas you can make in
a few hours. They have a airport but I hardly think that attorneys would do
that over the drive.

As for any of those projects? Likely just a facade for what's really been
going on which is essentially good ol' boy politics to keep the money flowing
and people in power. The place you want to look at is Marshall, TX. It's not
really that exciting of a town but you can find economic reports of that
community so see that it's not really a hotbed of economic growth outside of
the oil field business.

My opinion comes from many years of maintaining gas stations from DFW to
Shreveport off I20 and all through ETX.

~~~
RegEx
Tyler is far from podunk.

~~~
v64
> Tyler is far from podunk.

As a native Tylerite, it's not _that_ far

------
duxup
"a federal judge ruled that a case against supercomputer manufacturer Cray
could be kept in East Texas because the company employed a single work-from-
home employee in the district."

That seems crazy. Poor Cray guy....company is pulled into his backyard in a
bad way because he worked from home.

------
sehugg
Here's a trial strategy consultant on some of the factors behind East Texas as
a venue for jury trials, seen through the lens of mock jurors:
[http://www.thejuryexpert.com/2010/03/east-texas-jurors-
and-p...](http://www.thejuryexpert.com/2010/03/east-texas-jurors-and-patent-
litigation/)

------
Quanttek
Why was the East Texas circuit so popular and why was it so in favor of
patent-holders?

~~~
calvinbhai
Watch Patent Scam on Amazon Prime (or on iTunes I guess). Then you'll wonder
how is this scam even tolerated!

Basically, its a nexus between the judge and attorneys who have shell
companies filing lawsuits against legit entrepreneurs and medium sized
companies.

The East Texas circuit is so remote that just going there is a pain.

Laws are such that burden of proof is on the company/person being accused in
the lawsuit. That combined with the remoteness of this court, compels the
accused to settle, along with an NDA that prevents them from sharing any
details about the settlement.

~~~
patentatt
This is somewhere between incomplete and inaccurate. The collusion aspect is
far overstated, see other comments in this thread. And the idea that
defendants settle because EDTX is too far away may account for some small
litigants, but large companies can buy plane tickets. The real reason was a
set of local rules that promoted expediency (to the point of being biased some
may say), a docket not as inundated with drug cases as some other districts, a
judge who was very pro patent owner, and a local jury pool comprised of people
who were statistically ‘dumber’ than average and really liked patent owners.
And a local cottage industry of sorts set up to support this type of
litigation (shell corporation headquarters, local counsel, jury consultants,
etc,) I’m not defending any of it, but it’s inaccurate to just say it was all
a conspiracy

~~~
calvinbhai
They don’t the sue the bigger than certain size company exactly for that
reason! Hence the lawsuit is never against Google, but against makers of
successful paid apps on Google Play Store.

Sure the movie borders on conspiracy / fact . But it certainly is believable
for me, who has no idea how patent system or the litigation machinery works in
the US.

------
Cw67NTN8F
This is absolutely insane, especially in USA. Courts here are supposed to be
impartial and just. If you increase your chances by x in a certain court--and
you can file there--what justice is it? Shocked that this travesty lasted this
long.

~~~
tzahola
It’s not unlike how major cities are eager to throw tax cuts at Amazon for
their new office.

~~~
dragonwriter
Its actually very much unlike that. While the communities in the Eastern
District of Texas _did_ benefit from the popularity of the venue because
frequent patent litigants -- one either side -- spend lots of money in those
communities essentially trying to buy sympathy in the jury pool, those
communities have essentially no control over the court rules that drive the
popularity of the venue; its not a race-to-the-bottom competition like the
Amazon HQ2 competition, and similar (usually less formalized) efforts to
attract other big companies with tax abatements.

~~~
thephyber
> those communities have essentially no control over the court rules that
> drive the popularity of the venue

You mean other than the people of the community that sit on juries and elect
the judges?

~~~
dragonwriter
Federal courts, including EDTX, have judges appointed by the President of the
United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate; the judges aren't elected by
the district served by the court.

------
gavreh
this post is from 10/12/2017

------
aurizon
Ah, a crop of drowning lawyers, needs more water, their nostrils still have
air...

