December 21st, 2010
Set the threat level at red, East Texas, because you are under attack. Knowingly or unknowingly, East Texas has been harboring, what we can call, “economic terrorists”.
The accurately named “Patent Trolls” have found an accommodating court circuit in the eastern district of Texas and now are laying siege to our American way of doing business. In the simplest of economic courses we have learned that to create wealth you must offer a product or service in demand.
The deviant strategy of the “patent troll” is to search and buy patents from bankrupt firms without any intention of manufacturing the invention. Then they target other businesses that use some simulant of the invention in order to sue them for patent infringements. This is the complete opposite of offering a service or product.
This is profiting off someone else’s service or product. One definition of terrorist is an individual who uses violence, terror, and intimidation to achieve a result. Well, I don’t know anything more terrifying than to see one man profit from another man’s work.
Or, I haven’t seen a greater intimidation tactic than how these “patent trolls” threaten with a $1million defense cost in order to encourage out of court settlements. And with these acts of terror we could see a real devastating blow to the American free market.
Just think about it, if these companies have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for settlements or litigation costs, who will suffer the most? The consumer! These companies will either hike up the cost of their products or service in order to pay said costs or they will lose desire altogether to continue producing their product or service.
So, what do you think? Is it about time to call Homeland Security?
Tags: Bankrupt Firms, Court Settlements, Doing Business, East Texas, East Texas economic terrorists, Eastern District Of Texas, Economic Courses, Homeland Security, Hundreds Of Thousands, Intention, Intimidation Tactic, Invention, Litigation Costs, Patent Infringements, patent litigation terrorists, Patents, Simulant, Terrorists, Thousands Of Dollars, Threat Level, Troll, Trolls
Posted in Attorneys | No Comments »
December 21st, 2010
Stop patent trolling, boycott Marshall! That’s right, don’t go to see the Christmas lights or visit the Fire Ant festival this year. I mean, people like Sheryl Crowe do it right? Remember, she was the one to tell us how she only uses two squares of toilet paper per sit down in order to save the trees.
Or what about the freedom fry idea? Oh you remember, when France questioned our invasion of Iraq, we decided to boycott using “French” as a label for something. So, if we are to stop the unethical business performed by “patent trolls” we should boycott Marshall, because, well, they are the reason for it, right?
Well, before you cancel that yearly trip to check out the lights, let’s think about it a little more. The increase of patent infringement cases that has taken place in Marshall has been a little… disturbing, but the practice by patent trolls of utilizing bought patents to sue for patent infringement long before the good citizens of Marshall were found to be favorable to these types of cases.
The increase of cases in Marshall has taken place the past 5 to 6 years, the termology and practice of patent trolls can be traced back to 1993. No, to blame Marshall and the people that serve on the juries of these cases is like blaming the rich guy for having a nice car to be stolen.
Bad people do bad things because they are bad, not because they are tempted into it by ideal circumstances. So, sorry Cheryl, we will have to save the boycotting idea for something else.
Tags: 6 Years, Christmas, Christmas Lights, Circumstances, Fire Ant, Freedom, Fry, Good Citizens, Invasion Of Iraq, Juries, Marshall, Marshall Texas attorneys, Marshall Texas patent trolls, Marshall TX patent attorney, Patent Infringement Cases, Patents, People, Sheryl Crowe, Squares, Toilet Paper, Trees, Trolls, Unethical Business
Posted in Attorneys | No Comments »
December 21st, 2010
It’s like they say, “one bad apple can ruin the whole barrel”. This past decade has seen an increasing rise in the number of patent litigation cases taken place, which in turn has produced such things as “rocket docket” court districts like in Marshall, Texas, a call for patent reform, and the unethical business of “patent trolls”.
Patent trolls are the bad apple of patent litigation and, you would think, the potential source of ruining the current patent system. It is kind of like what is taking place with air travel and airport security this holiday season. Recently we have heard or seen protests like, “don’t touch my junk” and of scantily clad individuals entering airport security.
This has been brought on to question TSA’s methods for identifying potential terrorist threats. And due to the undesired methods of full body scans and detailed “pat downs” many are questioning whether or not to travel by air for the holidays.
And all of this is because of what a few, bad men have done through their acts of terrorism. So, the questions is, has the actions of patent trolls hurt legitimate patent litigation cases? The main damage that could be done by the “patent troll” type of cases is the possibility of the jury being swayed by the motivation of the patent troll for the lawsuit.
But, considering that their responsibility is simply to gauge whether or not the patent has been infringed, this ultimately should not affect patent infringement cases. And if the number of cases is any indication, then we can say that it has not hindered. With only a few “slow” times the past 2-3 years, patent lawsuits have continuously been on the rise. So have patent trolls hurt legitimate cases? The answer: No. I guess these apples are so bad after all?
Tags: Acts Of Terrorism, Airport Security, Apples, Bad Apple, Bad Men, Entering Airport, Full Body Scans, Holiday Season, Legitimate Cases, Litigation Cases, Marshall Texas, Marshall Texas Attorney, Marshall TX Attorneys, Patent Infringement Cases, Patent Lawsuits, Patent Litigation, Patent Reform, Patent System, Rocket Docket, Terrorist Threats, Trolls, Unethical Business
Posted in Attorneys | No Comments »
November 12th, 2010
Hand Over the Cash
Recently in the United States, there has been a huge surge in intellectual property rights cases as patent trolling becomes more and more popular. Some areas such as East Texas are well known for being a haven for these cases due to the fact that those judges and juries have a long history of awarding large monetary compensations to patent trolls when copyright infringement cases are brought against large companies. Still, no matter what part of the country you are in, there are many more copyright infringement cases brought forth by patent trolls looking to make a quick lump sum than those that are filed by inventors looking to protect their idea or product.
The way that our legal system is set up allows for complete abuse by patent trolls, and it has proven quite lucrative. For one, United States patent law is arranged so that the patent holder doesn’t even have to produce the product in question to be able to sue for copyright infringement. Because of this, patent trolls can buy patents for cheap and simply use them to barter with big companies with no intention at all of ever using the patents to produce a product or other tangible object.
While there are many happy patent trolls out there, there are also plenty of people against the abuse of the legal system. There has been plenty of talk of the need for patent reform, but nothing has changed so far. For now, the playing field is wide open to patent trolls.
Tags: Advantage, Compensations, Copyright Infringement Cases, East Texas, Intellectual Property Rights, Intention, Inventors, Juries, Lawyers in Patent Cases, Lump Sum, Patent Holder, Patent Infringement, Patent Law, Patent Reform, Patents, People, Tangible Object, Texas Attorneys, Trolls, Tyler Texas, Tyler Texas Patent Law, United States Patent, Winning a patent case
Posted in Attorneys | No Comments »
November 2nd, 2010
If you’ve heard the term patent troll but are not sure what it means, then you’re in the right place. A patent troll, sometimes called a patent pirate, is a company or other entity, sometimes an individual that uses patent law to enforce patents against potential offenders in exchange for a payout. This practice is questionable, but current patent law allows it.
Click here to contact a patent law attorney
Patent trolls have no interest in using the patents they obtain for anything except as bartering power with large companies. Sometimes patent trolls purchase patents from companies that are willing to sell due to the fact that they never made what they had patented. In other cases, patents are bought in bulk quantities from companies going out of business or bankrupt.
The reason patent trolling is so lucrative, especially in hotspots like Tyler, Texas, is because it is very common for the patent troll that holds the patent to win in a lawsuit, which can sometimes mean payouts of millions of dollars with very little work being done by the patent troll.
Obviously, patent trolling is of questionable ethics but that only matters so much. The real problem is that current patent law allows patent holders to go after other entities even if they haven’t acted on their patent. Being the owner of the patent, even if you never used it, puts you in a position to barter with large companies with the threat of taking them to court for patent infringement. No company wants to deal with a patent infringement case and many cannot afford it period. Thus, patent trolls usually are able to “bully” the companies into paying an outside of court settlement.
Click here to contact a patent law attorney
Tags: Bartering, Contact, Court Settlement, Current, Entities, Going Out Of Business, Hotspots, Law Attorney, Lead, Patent Attorney, Patent Holders, Patent Infringement Case, Patent Law, Pirate, Purchase Patents, Quantities, Questionable Ethics, Reason, Troll, Trolls, Tyler Texas
Posted in Attorneys | No Comments »
