Throughout the last decade or so, the number of cases dealing with patent infringement has skyrocketed in East Texas. Many have come to ask why East Texas has experienced such a surge of patent infringement litigation. There are a few different factors that come into play here. The East Texas District Court has great judicial expertise on the subject, the courts are known for being plantiff-friendly, and most importantly, jurors that are usually predisposed to awarding the plaintiff with a large sum of money almost every time.
For the reasons mentioned above, the East Texas area has become a haven for patent trolls and it has been called a renegade jurisdiction. In fact, the town of Marshall, Texas experienced a huge economic boom when it quickly became a hot spot for patent infringement litigation and it’s likely that very few people there are complaining about it!
From time to time you may see what appears to be a Hollywood movie scene as a big throng of high power patent attorneys in Armani suits makes their way down the city streets for court lunch break.
These patent litigation attorneys may have slicked back hair, a rolex on and a hot legal secretary mistress but make no mistake this is real life stuff and these guys make millions of dollars each year right here in our backyard in Marshall Texas. Maybe one of these patent lawyers will continue on as did John Edwards and go from attorney to politician.
One of the key factors in the popularity of East Texas patent infringement cases is the fact that there are a lot of professionals in the area who are familiar with patent law combined with the friendly courts towards patent plaintiffs. Like almost any type of litigation, it is very challenging to try a patent infringement case. It is very complex even from a legal standpoint and the work it takes to secure a patent is almost impossible for an average Joe to do. Thus, patent infringement lawyers are in high demand in the East Texas area!
Here are a few law firms that defend companies that are being pursued in patent litigation often times from companies that are patent trolling and have been given the name patent trolls.
Stevens, Love, Hill & Holt, PLLC Patent Attorneys
Stevens Love law firm are experienced litigators and trial lawyers focused on complex business disputes, patent litigation and infringement cases, as well as catastrophic personal injuries.
Stevens, Love, Hill & Holt, PLLC
111 W Tyler St
Longview, TX 75601
Phone: 903-753-6760
Fax: 903-753-6761
6101 South Broadway, Suite 500
Tyler, Texas 75703
Telephone: (903) 561-1600
Fax: (903) 581-1071
Email: info@icklaw.com
Patent Infringement Litigation – Ireland, Carroll & Kelley, P.C represent patentees and accused infringers in patent litigation, arbitration, mediation, and other forms of alternative dispute resolution in matters involving disputes over the infringement or validity of a patent, as well as declaratory judgment actions regarding non-infringement or invalidity.
Shlansky & Co., LLP, Attorneys at Law
Since their founding in 1995, Shlansky & Co., LLP, Attorneys at Law has been a business law firm dedicated to providing the utmost in competence, value, and advantageous outcomes to its clients. Specializing in intellectual property, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets.
WALTHAM OFFICE:
1050 Winter St., Suite 1000
Waltham, Massachusetts
02451
VERGENNES OFFICE:
360 Main St.
Vergennes, Vermont
05491
Col. John P. Sinnott is a 1953 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, has a Master’s Degree in Nuclear Engineering from the U. S. Air Force Institute of Technology and a Juris Doctor degree from Northern Kentucky University’s Salmon P. Chase School of Law.
As Chief Patent and Trademark Counsel for American Standard, he prosecuted and argued to a successful decision the landmark case In Re American Standard, TTAB, 1984, 223 USPQ 353 and 1984 TTAB Lexis 148. On retirement from American Standard, he became Of Counsel to the Manhattan intellectual property law firm of Morgan & Finnegan, L. L. P. In 1999, Col. Sinnott moved to Valdosta, Georgia, and became Of Counsel to the Langdale Vallotton, LLP Firm
Langdale Vallotton, LLP
1007 North Patterson Street
Valdosta, Georgia 31601
Tel: 229-244-5400
Fax1: 229-244-0453
Fax2: 229-244-5475
Note: We are not saying Patent Harbor LLC is a patent troll we are just pointing out that others have said online that they are and we were seeing if some of the claims like empty offices and so forth were true. As far as we know they are a good well meaning patent owning company who is simply defending themselves against dishonest companies that have infringed upon their patents. Maybe they take long lunch breaks and work late at night.
Going on now for about 10 years the Eastern District Court of Texas has been at home handling patent litigation cases and it seems finds themselves being best fit to handle these lawsuits.
The patent holding companies are many times non practicing entities or, more bluntly, patent trolls, that have a larger chance of winning in this court than in other courts in the US. Because of the statistical odds of a defendant losing a patent infringement court case in this court the first legal option of the accused is to move for a change of venue to an unbiased federal district court.
To talk of a power trip for a court or judge this would be one of those as a plaintiff stands to receieve over $100 million dollars every few months one of these lawsuits goes to court in the Eastern District Courts.
The defendants in these cases rush to get the lawsuit changed to another court due to the belief that the Eastern District Court in Marshall Texas, Judge T. John Ward presiding, is friendly towards the plaintiffs in these cases more times than not.
Now there is nothing wrong with suing a company for infringing upon your patent but when digging under the legal jargon what the laymen would like to know is what’s really going on? What’s all the fuss?
Well many although not all of these plaintiffs suing large companies like JVC, Apple, Microsoft, and others are buying up patents on the cheap and then finding large companies that have infringed upon these patents.
Once they have a big list of companies to sue sometimes only a few weeks before filing the lawsuit they will open up an office in Tyler Texas. Sometimes the office will be in Tyler Texas or Marshall where the Eastern District Court is located.
Although the office will have employees the employees are usually rarely there and it is obvious that the office many times nothing more than a, “recent, ephemeral, and an artifact of litigation appear[ing] to exist for no other purpose than to manipulate venue.”
This description would make sense as an office with no employees simply to get the trial in a court that will side with your lawsuit seems a bit suspicious although apparently legal. Recently however the Federal Circuit Court has started to dismiss these offices and the incorporations in Texas because of the obvious manipulation of court venue.
When a defendant in the past has attempted to move the court case out of the Eastern District Court the request has frequently been denied. These denials prompt a jolt of fear into the defendants game plan resulting in many cases being settled out of court because of the denial and the disadvantages to fighting it in the Eastern District Court.
The Federal Circuit court is now seeing an obvious gaming of the legal system in these patent cases as they quote, “a classic case where the plaintiff is attempting to game the system.” in reference to the In re Zimmer court case.
If these patent companies really are attempting to game the system and stand to make hundreds of millions of dollars why don’t they take it a step further and actually have employees in these offices? You would think they would want to go out of there way to establish more of a real presence in these offices?
Future court cases being tried in the Eastern District Court are more likely to grant a change of venue to defendants who often reside outside of Texas and where the plaintiffs are usually out of state as well although “gaming the system” as the Federal Circuit Court would say.
The district court’s denial that they are being disruptive to the principles set forth in the transfer law just to handle these high profile cases is unbelievable and glaringly obvious to the average citizen. What’s up over there in Marshall Texas?
These court cases cost these innovative US companies millions of dollars as well as harm consumers who must deal with rising costs associated with these products because of patent litigation insurance that must be taken out to insure themselves against the potential of a lawsuit.
Once the Eastern District stops fighting against the Federal Circuit Courts wishes East Texas may have another problem in store. These patent holding companies can sue local technology companies in Tyler Texas that have infringed on a patent in some broad general definition of infringement.
Since the defendant company is in East Texas already there is no need to game the system regarding venue as they can just sue any of us small time local companies here in Tyler and the surrounding East Texas community. That’s when this starts to effect us.
I imagine the judge in Marshall Texas wouldn’t be seen so kindly once it starts hurting local East Texans.
Throughout the last decade or so, the number of cases dealing with patent infringement has skyrocketed in East Texas. Many have come to ask why East Texas has experienced such a surge of patent infringement litigation. There are a few different factors that come into play here. The East Texas District Court has great judicial expertise on the subject, the courts are known for being plantiff-friendly, and most importantly, jurors that are usually predisposed to awarding the plaintiff with a large sum of money almost every time.
Here are a few law firms that defend companies that are being pursued in patent litigation often times from companies that are patent trolling and have been given the name patent trolls.