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Trend in East Texas regarding money hungry patent trolls

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.

The right to intellectual property and the quagmire of patent trolling in East Texas

March 2nd, 2011

george washington carverThe history of patents in the USA is synominis with names like Thomas Edison, George Washington Carver, Albert Einstein, and Bill Gates. Because with each invention and innovation that was thought up of, there was the need for a patent.

Among the many things that factored into becoming the great nation we are is innovation. We have throughout our history found a way to keep speeding ahead with new technology that bettered the lives of Americans and others across the globe.

And in this modern age we continue to look for that “next step” that would continue to elevate us to the next level. Yet, there is one, minor, practice that has both the potential to hinder innovation and leave a scar in our history.

The term, “patent troll” refers to a company that buys and uses patents for the sole purpose of bringing other businesses to court for patent infringement. Besides the unethical method of “business” they are using to gain wealth, is that this type of practice hinders innovation.

The institution of patents and licensing in our nation follows some of our basic principles and beliefs that each man has a right to his property. We can think of patents as the holding of one’s “intellectual” property.

And with a patent an individual has the freedom to pursue their invention with the peace of knowing that it is protected from theft. But, what’s more, is that this encourages the creation of technology. What we find with these patent trolls is an abuse of the system.

As they utilize they protection of held patents to earn royalties and compensation, they sit back with their profit without any purpose or plan to follow through to create or build their invention. That’s right, not only do they not make the patent into a realization, but they punish other businesses that have.

When we observe the things that have come out of the excellence of work of some men in history, it is so sad to see what some individuals are doing to hinder that from going on.

Patent troll reform will effect East Texas

February 1st, 2011

Patent Litigation ReformChange 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.

East Texas Gives Large Compensation to Patent Holders

January 27th, 2011

East Texas CourtsDoesn’t it seem like every time a commercial comes on advertising some new technology or service, you have to do a Google search just to understand what their talking about?

Droid phones, 3G, 4G, IPads, Blackberry, and the list goes on and on. We are facing a modern age in which the inventing and producing of new technology is moving at lightning speed and whoever is at the front will make the most money.

Unfortunately, other aspects of the technology business are not keeping up. This is especially true when it comes to patents and what constitutes patent infringement.

Now, we are not just talking about keeping up with the incredible growth of wireless media that has taken place this last decade, we are talking 50 years since they set the standard that is currently being used to assign and distinguish patents.

And what that means is that the standard in which the courts of East Texas use to hand out high money compensation for patent infringement is outdated.

It is this exact standard in question that the citizens and judges of the courts in Marshall, Texarkana, and Tyler have used to award hundreds of millions of dollars for patent infringement.

The two major factors in question in the current standard is to what extent a patent reaches in certain technology and how much financial damage is really taking place with infringements.

Both factors, if changed, would lower the amount of compensation dramatically. Considering that the majority of new technology deals with multiple patents, the potential of monster lawsuits bringing some companies to their knees is in the future if the current standard is not updated.

Patent Trolls Aim Pistol at Big Business in East Texas

January 24th, 2011

Patent TrollingWith the failure of Proposition 19 in California came the loss hope among many citizens of the Golden State to be legally practicing one of their “recreational” hobbies. Many still wonder, what is the big deal about legalizing the use of the substance as some of our colleagues in Europe have?

The common thought is, if we legalize marijuana like tobacco and alcohol, then there will not be as many problems, right? Right? Well, let me say this in my best Texan. Just ‘cause you change the look of something, don’t mean it’s right. In so many different areas, there is a search to make something look better by changing the wording of it.

As “political correctness” takes over we can suffer a compromise that will hurt us on the long run. Take, for example, the little controversy of patent trolls in the business arena.

Patent trolls consist of companies who have obtained patent licenses with the sole intent to use them as a pistol aimed at bigger businesses that might have infringed on the patent in order to bring a lawsuit against them for compensation.

Now, one red flag of a patent troll is that the business has not manufactured the patented item and will never do so. Some uproar has come as a result of this practice and many are taking sides.

In an attempt to downplay this unethical practice is to refer to them, not as patent trolls, but rather, “non-practicing entities”. As in, “We choose not to implement the objects of our patents.” That’s like saying, “I’m a non-practicing dieter”.

Whatever the case may be, if it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, and has feathers like a duck then it’s a duck.