April 2nd, 2011
Have you ever had one of those moments when you are watching a movie and there is a particular part that catches your attention and sticks with you until the right moment comes to apply it to your life? Well, mine is from National Treasure and this is the moment.
Remember towards the end of the movie and the good guys are being held hostage and forced to help the bad guys find the treasure? And as they are walking along held at gun point, the wise older father turns to his son, and says “You have to change the status quo.”
Well, imagine me as the wise older father and the court houses of Marshall, Texarkana, and Tyler Texas as the son, “You have to change the status quo.” because your being held hostage.
This trend of money-hungry patent trolls coming to these towns must stop. There has been a status quo established in the eastern district of Texas that has helped to intensify the illegitament business of making money off of bought out patents.
This status quo includes sped up court process specifically for patent infringement and a high percentage of victory for plaintiffs of these cases. Now there is not much you can do about the jury’s findings because jury tampering is illegal.
But one thing to consider is the manner in which the judges are handling the court process of these particular cases. A set of “no nonsense” rules have been established in which lawyers are given a limit of time to present all paper work and are timed by a chess timer when presenting their case in which they are abruptly stopped if the timer goes off.
These types of things are a major part of why their courts are found so appealing for this abuse. In order for these judges to continue their commitment to the betterment of our nation they must change the status quo held in their court houses.
Tags: Bad Guys, Being Held Hostage, Betterment, Chess, Court Houses, East Texas, East Texas Patent Trolls, Eastern District Of Texas, Good Guys, Gun Point, Jury Tampering, National Treasure, Nonsense, Patent attorneys in East Texas, Patent Infringement, Patents, Plaintiffs, Right Moment, Texarkana Texas, Timer, Trolls, Tyler Texas
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February 8th, 2011
When it comes to our modern day society, almost, everything is about speed. We have created a way to do all things in our life faster. We are what you can call an “instant” culture, we want everything instantly.
From communication, to appliances, to services, to health, to economy, it is all about happening the fastest way possible. Well, now we can include patent litigation. A buzz word you might have heard being used in the legal world is the word “rocket docket”.
When you’ve put an over-night mail label on a court case than you have what they call a “rocket docket”. And when it comes to patent infringement lawsuit that is what the plaintiff is looking for.
This is especially true for the so named “patent trolls” whose whole lively hood is based on patent infringement lawsuits coming from their unmanufactured patents. It seems there is a competition to see who can create the best “rocket docket” in the nation.
At court houses in places like western Wisconsin, Virginia, and east Texas, judges have taken on different practices in order to speed up the litigation process. In one location the judges start as early as 6:30am and can wait as long as 2:30pm before they let court out for lunch.
In another, the judge issues a time limit for council to share, going as far as having a chess clock available to abruptly stop the council when time is up.
Whatever method it might be these court districts have successfully found a way to speed up the process as patent infringement cases have been shortened in some places to as little as 6 ½ months compared to the nationally average of 3-5 years. Well, it looks like the “instant” culture has made its stamp once again.
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February 1st, 2011
Change is in the wind and it’s coming via Capitol Hill. The current issue of patent infringement abuse taking place in the court houses of Marshall, Texarkana, and Tyler Texas has Big Brother on its back now.
Facing this issue that is taking place in East Texas might not be on the top of the list of legislation, but it is definitely something that must be taken care of. The main issue is due mostly to the abuse that is taking place.
Although the term “patent troll” has been around for much longer, it has become more of a common phrase in the past 5-6 years. Patent trolls are the culprits responsible for the rise of patent infringement cases due to their excessive use of the court system in order to gain wealth.
Patent trolls are companies who look to push patent infringement to the limit by using any patents that they hold to target any other business that has a product or technology that has any similarity to their patent in order to sue them for damages.
More times than not they actually look to buy patents off of others. The government has taken notice of the abuse and has already submitted one bill to bring reform to patent infringement cases.
The major keys that they have identified is, first, to give the judges more responsibility by reviewing how much damage was done in by the product or technology and the other responsibility is to access how much really due to the company holding the patent.
The second major idea is to limit “forum shopping” that is, to limit cases being held in locations favorable to plaintiffs. So far no bills have been passed yet.
Whatever your perspective is about big government or little government, the abuse of the legal system has gotten them involved and that is just the beginning.
Tags: 6 Years, Big Brother, Capitol Hill, Common Phrase, Court Houses, Culprits, Current Issue, Damages, East Texas, east texas patent troll, Legislation, Major Keys, Marshall, Patent Infringement Cases, patent troll legislation, patent troll reform, Patents, Perspective, Plaintiffs, Similarity, Texarkana Texas, Trolls, Tyler Texas
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January 14th, 2011
Who would have ever thought that doing your civic duty would have such grave consequences? What started out as the citizens of East Texas simply fulfilling an oath to judge justly without prejudice has escalated into a gold rush of litigation battles and unethical business behavior.
Unaware for many years, the townsfolk of Marshall, Texarkana, and Tyler have become known to the legal world as having a higher percentage of deciding for plaintiffs of patent infringement cases than most other court circuits across the nation.
This has been attributed to things such as an older age group in the jury and a stronger stand on property rights, that is “what is yours is yours”. Unfortunately, some people have seen this standard as a way to turn a profit.
Namely, these people are what they call “patent trolls”. Patent trolls are companies who purchase patents from struggling businesses or firms without any plans on manufacturing the invention or technology.
Their sole use of the patent is to target any businesses that have technology or a service that might infringe on the patent in order to file a lawsuit against them for infringement.
Of course, these “patent trolls” need a feeding ground to survive and they have found that in East Texas. And it seems they are “feeding” well. Since 2003 the number of patent litigation cases in these court houses has more than quadrupled.
They only other location outside of East Texas that has hosted close to that amount of cases is Los Angeles. It’s sad to see how an unselfish act like serving in a jury has resulted in the selfish pursuit of unearned wealth.
So, next time you receive a jury summons, let’s hope your act of civil service does more to serve than not.
Tags: Age Group, Civic Duty, Civil Service, Court Houses, East Texas, east texas juries, east texas jury trial, east tx jury patent litigation, Gold Rush, Grave Consequences, Invention, Jury Summons, Litigants, Litigation Cases, Patent Infringement Cases, Patent Litigation, Plaintiffs, Prejudice, Profit Motive, Texarkana, Trolls, Unethical Business Behavior, Unselfish Act
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January 1st, 2011
Choosing the lesser of two evils always sounds good at the time. But when it comes time to be the one to choose, it’s a lot better said than done.And when it comes to the debate over patent reform, whatever decision might be made, somebody is going to suffer. So the question is, which is worse: the loss of job opportunities worldwide or the possible death of a town.
The two sides of patent form goes like this. If the different aspects of reform go through, the town of Marshall will lose pretty much all footing it has gained for being recognized as the ideal location for plaintiffs of patent infringement lawsuits.
The types of changes that would affect them include forum shopping, lower damage rewards, and tighter infringement standards. Considering that Marshall has become the patent litigation “Mecca” because of its favorable findings for and large pay outs, these law changes would leave them dead in the water.
The worst of the changes would be eliminating forum shopping. The large number of patent infringement cases that has come to Marshall is due to the plaintiffs in the case being able to choose its location, and any dummy knows that it is better to hold your case in a location with the highest percentage of plaintiffs wins in the nation.
If these laws pass, the economic revolution that Marshall has experienced will come to an end. The side of patent reform is how litigation has stunted innovation and thus, job creation.
Because of the amount of money and time being spent in court houses for patent infringement companies and firms are handcuffed to pursue other possibilities, thus, handcuffed to hire more people. So, you tell me, which is the lesser of two evils?
Tags: Amount Of Money, Court Houses, Dead In The Water, Dummy, Economic Revolution, Favorable Findings, Footing, Job Creation, Job Opportunities, Law Changes, Lesser Of Two, Lesser Of Two Evils, Marshall Texas, masthall texas patent litigaton, Mecca, Patent Form, Patent Infringement Cases, Patent Infringement Lawsuits, Patent Litigation, Patent Reform, Plaintiffs, Town Of Marshall
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