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East Texas Property Law: Intellectual Property Rights

October 8th, 2010

Tyler Texas Patent Lawsuit

Patent Litigation

Just like anywhere else, East Texas property law is pretty straightforward. But what about property that isn’t an item like a car or jewelry. This is where intellectual property rights law comes into play. Things like inventions, works of writing, music, drawings, molds, and photographs are examples of what falls under the category of East Texas intellectual property rights law.

It is indeed tough to place a value on an intangible object such as an idea. If you are familiar with copyrights, then you are somewhat familiar with intellectual property rights law. Copyright law is actually a branch of intellectual property law, but it requires that the intellectual property be transferred into a tangible form in order for a copyright to be awarded. For example, a thought is made tangible when an author writes a book.

Obviously, this can lead to confusion and arguments in some cases that end up in our judicial system. In East Texas, property rights law suits are very popular and demand is increasing. Large settlements are common during intellectual property litigation, and there are many of these lawsuits filling up East Texas courtrooms. It’s like the attorneys new asbestos cancer gold mine.

In the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, defendants often choose to cut their losses and settle rather than fight. This is due to the fact that this court is known to favor plaintiffs and for expertise in patent and intellectual property rights suits.

Apple Given a Patent Lawsuit Penalty of $625.5 million dollars by a Tyler Texas Federal Jury

October 6th, 2010
Apple Patent Infringement Case Tyler Texas

Apple

As we have been writing about over the last several months, Tyler and East Texas are considered dumb hillbilly areas that offer large advantages for patent trolls to file patent infringement lawsuits and win.

Just a few months ago VirnetX of Tyler won $106 million against Microsoft so this is not at all uncommon around here.

Click here to contact a patent law attorney

It was reported today that a federal jury in Tyler Texas awarded a company located in Tyler Texas by the name of Mirror Worlds LLC $625.5 million dollars as a judgement against Apple for infringing on their patents.

Of course if they really did do something wrong they should have to pay some type of penalty. What is often the case with patent outfits like this is to find that the company is simply a patent clearing house. The company buys up patents with the sole motive being to find large companies infringing on the patent and profit from lawsuits. Often a company like this hasn’t a single physical product they actually sell.

An example would be to where a patent company buys up some patents that they already know are being infringed upon with the express purpose of making income through litigation. These patent trolls do not wish to make something with the patent they bought but are looking to sue as many large corporations as they can.

You must also consider that it is not all bad what the patent troll is doing as some engineers and scientists that have made these patents contractually sell their patents to large patent companies like this to basically handle the litigation for them. So in a way these patent clearing houses offer a service to legitimate inventors of a product, software, or service that may or may not have ever been developed.

This patent trolling makes millions and millions of dollars for these companies as well as their lawyers. Not only does the patent troll need to open up a business in Tyler or East Texas to pursue litigation here but their lawyer must be local counsel.

Click here to contact a patent law attorney

Although there will likely be a larger law firm outside of Tyler and possibly in another state working on the case they will retain local counsel here to pursue the matter in court.

There were 3 patents involved in this court case that Mirror Worlds LLC claim Apple infringed on. This comes out to $208.5 million per violation. Apple calls this lawsuit “triple dipping” if they actually collect all the 3 penalties.

The case is being appealed by Apple and will likely have some of the infringements and penalty’s knocked down and reduced but will still leave the patent troll company with millions of dollars for both themselves and their lawyers.

Once again Tyler Texas jury’s have proven to be gullible hillbilly idiots. My best guess is that most of the jury simply do not understand the complexities of the technological patents being discussed in court and are lulled into believing the patent trolls sob story.

The patents in the dispute were created by Yale professor David Gerlenter. David spun off Mirror Worlds Technologies from the university in 1996 and files the patents in 1999.

I imagine that the current Mirror Worlds LLC entity is no longer owned by the original patent owner, David Gerlenter but was bought by a patent troll. The patent troll than opened up an office in Tyler Texas in order to be able to sue from Tyler Texas so the lawsuit would be decided by an East Texas jury.

Patent Trolling East Texas

Patent Troll

By having patent litigation decided by a Tyler or East Texas judge and jury it is almost a guaranteed win for the patent troll company which is why I suspect Mirror World LLC opened up an office in Tyler Texas.

U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis is considering Apple’s request at this time that Apple does not infringe at least 2 of these patents. He will likely grant this request and lower the penalty amounts on at least 2 of the 3 infringement penalties.

Click here to contact a patent law attorney

The judge will soon hear arguments now on the damages awarded in the case from both sides

Patent Trolling: Abusing The System?

Patent lawyers have taken over the patent trolling industry in a new way by going from an attorney who helps patent holders defend against other companies who are suing them in regards to an infringed patent to these same lawyers buying large swaths of patents themselves and suing companies. You see no one is in a better position to know just how lucrative it is to sue companies that are infringing on patents then the patent litigation attorneys who have both defended and fought and won many of these cases for other companies.

You would think an attorney that worked in the patent infringement industry and has seen all the abuse in this issue would work to reform the industry. This however is not the case and quite a few attorneys that have won and lost some very big patent infringement cases are trying to make revenue themselves by being patent owners. Kind of sounds like the old saying,  “if you can’t beat them join them”, to me.

If you think about it owning a patent is like owning a business and in this case an attorney fighting for these businesses is just an employee who makes a meager amount compared to the patent owning company or the large corporation fighting the lawsuit. The amount of money gets up into the hundreds of millions of dollars so for many this type of power and money is a legacy creating game changer.

Take Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards who was a mesothelioma cancer attorney. His law firm sued very large companies like Corning and others where workers were contaminated by asbestos created products. His law firm made hundreds of millions of dollars and he became wealthy in the process. He eventually became a senator for North Carolina. Coincidentally the Corning plant was an east Texas manufacturing company that was the main culprit in the asbestos poisoning of their workers.

Some of these patent attorneys that once defended companies against claims of infringements by the plaintiffs in a lawsuit are now also buying patents and going after several companies they may have once defended in the past. Considering this attorney will likely make several hundred million dollars in his lawsuits some would say that money has gotten the better of him. I don’t see how this type of thing should be allowed to continue as this would be an obvious and blatant abuse of the patent laws in the United States.

One of these attorneys that has gone from defending litigants to being a plaintiff has bought up over 4,500 patents from a company that makes computer-memory chips. He also has a new law firm that works along side his patent owning company in pursuing litigation against any and all companies that have infringed these patents.

It seems a bit hypocritical to go from defending many of these companies to suing them but hey what do I know I am not an attorney and I will probably never own a patent.

East Texas and Patent Trolling

September 27th, 2010

 

East Texas Patent Troll

East Texas Patent Troll

Over the last few years, East Texas has become one of the most popular spots in the country for patent trolls and others seeking an almost sure win for a patent or copyright infringement case. The district court in East Texas is pretty well known for siding with plaintiffs in patent cases. Traditionally, patent trolls hire specialized patent lawyers to fight their battles for them and to seek out companies or other entities that hold patents they could buy and capitalize on.

So, what do patent trolls do? These companies that are called patent trolls buy up patents from other companies and then hire lawyers to prove infringement. In some cases, lawyers have simply become patent trolls individually thanks to the almost guaranteed or not-so-guaranteed depending on how you look at it payout, especially if you wind up in an East Texas court room. These companies could care less about the patents themselves or the products that could be made from them. Instead, they are simply after the money that they stand to earn by settling a lawsuit out of court.

With such a lenient court system or maybe not when looking further into it, iis it a surprise that Tyler and East Texas houses plenty of patent trolls and has for the last decade or so. Sadly, the companies that have to defend themselves from patent trolls stand to lose the most during a court case. For this reason, these companies instead settle outside of court with the patent troll. In many cases, this was all the patent troll wanted.

If you need to shop for a good patent troll attorney in Tyler Texas this is a good place to start: Tyler Texas Patent Law Attorneys

Companies and Intellectual Property Insurance

September 27th, 2010
Intellectual Law

Intellectual Law

Intellectual property insurance is pretty interesting and many who aren’t involved with a large Tyler Texas company have never heard of it. Basically, just as you insure your car or house in case of an accident, intellectual property insurance can insure a company both for getting sued for copyright infringement and going after someone suspected of stealing an idea from the company.

Sometimes, the second coverage (for going after an individual who stole your intellectual property) is a separate package and is called a pursuit policy. This is because it helps to pay the legal expenses it takes to pursue an alleged offender.

Intellectual property insurance can make the difference between the life or death of your Tyler business! If the threat exists that you could find yourself in an argument over intellectual property rights, then you should undoubtedly equip yourself with intellectual property rights insurance.

Even if you are the creator of a copyright, it can still be hard to hold onto it without intellectual property insurance. If you have to go to court to defend your patent and have no intellectual property insurance, you could very well spend all of your money just defending what is already yours.

An intellectual property insurance plan is very simple. If someone tries to steal your idea or accuses you of stealing theirs, the insurance will kick in and pay your legal fees for defending yourself.

If you need to shop around for local Tyler Texas intellectual property insurance carriers here is a good place to start: Insurance Companies in Tyler Texas

Linda R Hoak, Attorney at law

February 10th, 2010

Linda R Hoak has an attorney office located at 218 N. College Ave., Tyler, Texas 75702. She is a family lawyer for divorce and/or custody. I know these type of things are not easy to talk about and marriage is intended to last, but the reality is some marriages don’t make it. Linda Hoak is a good lawyer, because she cares for you personally and will always give you the big picture. She runs you through all the instances and prepares you for the worst, in case you need to go through that.

What impressed me most about her is that she was so willing to spend a lot of time answering all the questions I had. It was so good to become informed about the things that could happen when your marriage is not working and you have a child together. When there aren’t children involved, it was much easier to get a divorce. There are so many things to consider about a child, it is complicated. Linda Hoak encourages you to work on your marriage, but like I said sometimes you must divorce for the safety of your child or yourself. She was so informative about what the law in Texas will allow.

I was truly glad I went, the service was great and everyone welcomed me and were very helpful. She is very professional and honest. I was worried as to how do you know how to trust, when it comes to getting help on my situation. I found her on line from the Internet and decided to go and have a talk with her about my concerns. The visitation would have cost $50.00 which is not a lot of money, if your marriage is in danger and you could possibly lose your children.

One of the nice things was that while I was talking to the receptionists she told me that one of the attorneys policies is Fridays are free. So if money is an issue and you need a lawyer, try to go talk to her on Friday. Finding a good lawyer is hard, especially to find someone who really cares about you and your family. I was so impressed at how well informed she was and was not in a hurry to get over, even though she knew I wasn’t seeking a divorce lawyer, but just needed some legal advice.

You can rest assured that whatever you tell her is confidential. She knows your family is your life and people work hard for their money. She will listen to all you express to her and she won’t offer you advice that will harm your family. Her areas of practice are: divorce, child custody, child support, adoption, CPS cases, wills, medicaid, planning, paternity, and also estate planning. Her website describes in detail the things available. If you need a lawyer, take look at her site.