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.

More on Patent Harbor LLC

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.