Patent Trolls Taking Advantage of the Legal System

November 12th, 2010

Hand Over the Cash

Recently in the United States, there has been a huge surge in intellectual property rights cases as patent trolling becomes more and more popular. Some areas such as East Texas are well known for being a haven for these cases due to the fact that those judges and juries have a long history of awarding large monetary compensations to patent trolls when copyright infringement cases are brought against large companies. Still, no matter what part of the country you are in, there are many more copyright infringement cases brought forth by patent trolls looking to make a quick lump sum than those that are filed by inventors looking to protect their idea or product.

Tyler Texas Attorneys

The way that our legal system is set up allows for complete abuse by patent trolls, and it has proven quite lucrative. For one, United States patent law is arranged so that the patent holder doesn’t even have to produce the product in question to be able to sue for copyright infringement. Because of this, patent trolls can buy patents for cheap and simply use them to barter with big companies with no intention at all of ever using the patents to produce a product or other tangible object.

While there are many happy patent trolls out there, there are also plenty of people against the abuse of the legal system. There has been plenty of talk of the need for patent reform, but nothing has changed so far. For now, the playing field is wide open to patent trolls.

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Tyler Intellectual Property Insurance

November 12th, 2010

Intellectual Property Insurance

Intellectual property insurance coverage protects companies from copyright, trademark or patent infringement claims arising out of the company’s operation. It pays the defense costs and any judgment up to the policy limits. There are two types of intellectual property insurance coverage available. The first protects you if you are sued for infringement because it funds a legal defense. The second coverage is called a pursuit policy. It helps pay the legal expenses of suing an alleged infringer.

Tyler Texas Insurance

You need intellectual property insurance if the threat exists that you could be sued by a competitor for infringing on an idea or intellectual property belonging to someone else.

As long as you are not aware of any known infringements or violations, you can apply for insurance to protect your trademark or patent. In order to get coverage you will be required to prove that you have completed an intellectual property search, or have filed a registration for a trademark, service mark, copyright or patent.

Internet commerce is based on the ingenuity and development of new processes and applications. Many new companies compete to be the first to develop and sell new products and ideas. A competitor can financially wreck your company if you do not have the funds to hire an attorney and pay the cost of all the legal fees associated with defending your right to a patent or trademark. An intellectual property policy will pay the costs to defend you if someone tries to claim the rights to the same business model, process, or application.

Tags: Business Model, Competitor, Infringements, Ingenuity, Insurance, Insurance Companies, Insurance Coverage, Intellectual Property Insurance, Intellectual Property Policy, Internet Commerce, Judgment, Legal Expenses, New Processes, Patent Infringement, Property Search, Pursuit Policy, Texas Insurance, Trademark Service, Tyler Texas
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Patent Troll Basics

November 2nd, 2010

If you’ve heard the term patent troll but are not sure what it means, then you’re in the right place. A patent troll, sometimes called a patent pirate, is a company or other entity, sometimes an individual that uses patent law to enforce patents against potential offenders in exchange for a payout. This practice is questionable, but current patent law allows it.

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Patent trolls have no interest in using the patents they obtain for anything except as bartering power with large companies. Sometimes patent trolls purchase patents from companies that are willing to sell due to the fact that they never made what they had patented. In other cases, patents are bought in bulk quantities from companies going out of business or bankrupt.

The reason patent trolling is so lucrative, especially in hotspots like Tyler, Texas, is because it is very common for the patent troll that holds the patent to win in a lawsuit, which can sometimes mean payouts of millions of dollars with very little work being done by the patent troll.

Obviously, patent trolling is of questionable ethics but that only matters so much. The real problem is that current patent law allows patent holders to go after other entities even if they haven’t acted on their patent. Being the owner of the patent, even if you never used it, puts you in a position to barter with large companies with the threat of taking them to court for patent infringement. No company wants to deal with a patent infringement case and many cannot afford it period. Thus, patent trolls usually are able to “bully” the companies into paying an outside of court settlement.

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Tags: Bartering, Contact, Court Settlement, Current, Entities, Going Out Of Business, Hotspots, Law Attorney, Lead, Patent Attorney, Patent Holders, Patent Infringement Case, Patent Law, Pirate, Purchase Patents, Quantities, Questionable Ethics, Reason, Troll, Trolls, Tyler Texas
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East Texas Intellectual Property Rights Law

October 26th, 2010

Patent Harbor LLC

Today I was at the Regions Bank building in downtown Tyler to see a lawyer. I didn’t quite stop all the way at a stop sign and there was a police man watching the whole thing. I received a ticket for not stopping completely at a stop sign and so I bit the bullet and took my traffic citation and told the police officer “thank you for serving”.

Although I hated getting a ticket for what I would consider a technicality they risk their lives every day and perform a very necessary service people like me just aren’t cut out for. So I thanked the police officer which I believe everyone should do.

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I drove on after signing that I may appear in court for my traffic citation and drove up to the Regions Bank building in downtown Tyler Texas. I road the elevator up to the 8th floor to speak with an attorney that handles traffic tickets. While up there I noticed a locked office door with a sign that read “Patent Harbor LLC”.

I spoke to a woman on this same floor who says that hardly ever is someone there. She said they rent the office but no one is ever there except on rare occasions. When people do show up it is a big throng of people and has the feel of a Hollywood movie.

I mentioned the catch phrase, “patent troll” and she had no idea what this was or what these companies do. She was completely in the dark about “patent trolls” as her law firm did not handle cases like this. She said there were several other empty rented offices like this in the Regions Bank building and she has heard they are similar type of businesses.

Regions Bank Patent Troll Building

I looked into Patent Harbor LLC a little further by doing a Google search and they are suing quite a few big name companies over patent infringement. Many would say this is another case of patent troll litigation where a company buys patents not ever intending to make anything from the patents but to generate revenue by suing large established companies with millions of dollars. I however do not know all the facts in this specific case and will remain opinion-less on who the guilty party is. If you happen to know if Patent Harbor is or is not a patent troll please feel free to comment below.

Only a few short weeks ago Apple lost a patent infringement lawsuit against an alleged patent troll and was ordered to pay over $600 million dollars in the lawsuit.

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The reason you will see empty locked offices in Tyler Texas rented by out of town patent holding companies who setup business in Tyler is based on the theory that the Texas Eastern District Court
often sides with the plaintiff in these cases in a jury trial setting.

Some say the judges are corrupt and others say the juries in East Texas simply do not understand the complexity of these cases which is why large companies like Apple have to pay millions of dollars to what some call “Patent Trolls”.

Whether Patent Harbor LLC is a patent troll or not is not for me to determine as I do not know the facts of this case in great detail. I do find it curious how many lawsuits regarding patent infringement are purposefully tried in Tyler and East Texas.

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RFC Case Number: P-P10-361A
Court Case Number: 6:10-cv-00361-LED
File Date: Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Plaintiff: Patent Harbor, LLC

Plaintiff Counsel: Keith A. Rutherford, John C. Cain, Scott Reese of Wong Cabello Lutsch Rutherford & Brucculeri LLP
T. John Ward Jr. of Ward & Smith Law Firm

Defendant: Audiovox Corporation
Radioshack Corporation
Vizio, Inc.
Klipsch, LLC
Klipsch Group
GPX, Inc.
DPI, Inc.
Sherwood America Incorporated
Imation Corporation
Sharp Electronics Corporation
Haier America Trading LLC
Best Buy Co., Inc.
Denon Electronics (USA), LLC
Harmon International Industries, Inc.
Initial Technology, Inc.
JVC Americas Corporation
Onkyo USA Corporation
Panasonic Corporation of North America
Philips Electronics North America Corporation
Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc.
Samsung Electronics America, Inc.
Samsung C&T America, Inc.
Toshiba America, Inc.
Toshiba America Consumer Products LLC.,
Venturer Electronics, Inc.
Yamaha Corporation of America
Yamaha Electronics Corproation, USA

Cause: 35:271 Patent Infringement
Court: Texas Eastern District Court
Judge: Judge Leonard Davis

Why Exactly You Should Be Concerned About Patent Infringement

The word “intellectual” gives a pretty good clue as to what intellectual property rights law covers: ideas. More importantly, East Texas intellectual property rights law covers original ideas. Obviously, intellectual property law covers a very broad spectrum. Anything from books to machines to company logos falls under intellectual property law.

Intellectual property rights law plays quite a role in East Texas. Because intellectual property law protects creators with original ideas from others trying to benefit from their work, it encourages individuals to come up with new products and ideas. Within intellectual property rights law, there are three main subcategories. These include copyrights, patents, and trademarks. While all of these are pretty similar, they have their differences as well. Copyright law usually protects expressive artwork. It gives owners of the copyright exclusive rights to reproduce, display, or perform the work and punishes those who infringe by law. Patent law protects inventions and gives the creator exclusive rights, but only for a limited amount of time. After the time period is up, anyone can reproduce or copy the work. Last, trademark law deals with the logos, names, and identifying marks of products and companies.

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East Texas intellectual property rights law is very strict when it comes to violations. It is very important to hire a lawyer specializing in intellectual property rights law if you are forced to go to court for infringement or to pursue an infringement against you.

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East Texas Intellectual Property Right Law

October 20th, 2010

When people talk about “property rights”, a common quote is “Possession is nine tenths of the law”. For example, little Johnny is playing in the dirt with a red dump truck. Charlie wants to play with the dump truck, so he tells the teacher that the dump truck belongs to him and he wants it back. The teacher replies, “Johnny brought that dump truck from home, and he’s playing with it. It’s his property, and it belongs to him.” Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it?

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But what happens when the item at the center of a property dispute is not something you can put your hands on, but is a creation of the mind? Intellectual property, things like inventions, novels, plays, music, drawings, trademarks, sculptures, and photographs can have more value than say, a dump truck. This is where intellectual property right laws come into play. But how do you place value on something that is intangible?

From a legal standpoint, intellectual property is divided into two categories: industrial property and copyrights, and infringement suits involving intellectual property are popping up in unlikely places these days. Lawsuits that once filled dockets in California and New York are now commonplace in East Texas, an area that is becoming known as a haven these types of property right law suits.

In intellectual property litigation, the potential for large settlement payments is huge, particularly when a tough judge is presiding. That’s why in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, which is known for favoring plaintiffs and for expertise in patent and intellectual property right suits, defendants often choose to cut their losses and settle rather than fight.

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Why Exactly You Should Be Concerned About Patent Infringement