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East Texas Judge Throws Out 168 Patent Cases
Earthquake Retrofit writes: Ars Technica is reporting that an East Texas judge has thrown out 168 patent cases in one fell swoop. The judge's order puts the most litigious patent troll of 2014, eDekka LLC, out of business. The ruling comes from a surprising source: U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, the East Texas judge who has been criticized for making life extra-difficult for patent defendants. Gilstrap, who hears more patent cases than any other U.S. judge, will eliminate about 10 percent of his entire patent docket by wiping out the eDekka cases.
I'm raising a glass of Resin as I write this.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Looks like eDekka got out bid.
Someone's bribe check bounced
He figured out that the parasite school of economics wasn't going to work in the long run.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Looks like someones check didn't clear
As of 1630 PDT today.
https://weather.yahoo.com/united-states/michigan/hell-2419784/
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
I thought that was for Marijuana legalization in certain states.
All the cases were related to the same patent, which the judge ruled was too vague. Clearly the right decision but there's still a long way to go.
Judge Gilstrap has since issued an opinion failing to invalidate a similarly defective patent. I think this was an outlier, and it'll be back to business as usual in the E.D. Yes.
Pope comes to town, and things start happening
Table-ized A.I.
I don't think Intellectual Monopoly should exist at all. But since it does there is no reason to call someone a troll. If ideas are treated like property there is nothing wrong just sitting on it until it's valuable.
I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
Marshall, Texas.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
The judge in question has learned a lot about patent law (he's only been a district judge for 4 years). He threw out the cases, and invited the defendants to file for attorney fees.
The threat of having to pay attorney fees if they lose will stop patent trolls dead. Millions for defense, not a penny for tribute will take on a new meaning when you can get the millions back.
In other words, eDekka LLC just got tea-bagged.
More please. Much much more!
Actually it was worse. One and a half tea-bags.
was the venue of choice for patent trolls for a long time, because they were notoriously friendly to plaintiffs in such cases. Looks like that particular gravy train may have stopped.
God is talking to him. The documentary is available on netflix.
But this is first instance ruling from which the plaintiff can appeal, right? Not the end of the story, unfortunately.
This particular judge invited defendants to file to have the troll pay their fees. That puts this troll, who is 10% of the problem, out of business.
It wouldn't take too many cases in which Intellectual Ventures has to pay the people they sue before IV would run out of money and be gone. They are responsible for around 30% of the trolling.
Four companies file 90% of the patent cases. Of the remaining 10%, many are legitimate disputes, so well over 90% of the trolling is those four entities. Put those four out of business and you've pretty much solved the problem of patent trolls. (And by making it costly for those four, others will be discouraged from attempting it).
Put those four out of business and you've pretty much solved the problem of patent trolls.
Put those four out of business, and all you do is postpone fixing our clearly broken patent system. You want to solve patent trolling, stop the patent office from rubber-stamping the stupidest most general patents.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
Actually, the first patent-like thing was issued to Brunelleschi, because he came up with a way to move very large blocks of marble. There was no way he could keep this secret (trade secret being the usual scheme in the Renaissance) since it was in plain view, so he got the local government to provide protection against anyone else using it, for a limited time.
Interestingly, the idea didn't work.
Once the Judicial system starts routinely tossing out the stupidest most general patents, there will be a precedent by which patents are measured, no matter how many wallpaper patents are issued. Eventually, people paying the fees to be issued patents will wise up and demand that the Patent Office stop milling patents to collect fees from them.
At least that's the best case scenario I can dream up. It neuters the out of control Patent Office without any messy 'Patent Reform' needed.
See subject & "Run, Forrest: RUN!!!" -> http://slashdot.org/comments.p...
(You brought that & this, on yourself, trolling me...)
APK
P.S.=> It was a pleasure watching you die, Mr. Anderson... apk
RTFA! The '168 patent cases' all stem from one patent troll that filed 168 cases over a single patent.
ONE -- LOUSY -- PATENT
The article more accurately highlights the litigiousness of patent trolls than a 180 in East Texas against patents.
This has all the hallmarks of being due to the judge being pissed off he's hand-picked for the massive workload for his lazy stance on patent cases, and NOT due to any acknowledgement that patents need to be shown valid because the PTO assumes HE will rule whether they are if they are not.
He killed 10% of his workload. NOT he killed 10% of the patent trolling.
Considering that the judgement brings the demise of a business dedicated to holding back invention from the very people that can make it work my initial reaction to the loss of their business model was:
ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Thank you judge!
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
For the courts to chuck something out, it has to first get to court. Of course, it only takes one person to force the issue, but most people will be essentially forced into settling because they can't afford to fight the case.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Yes, I read the article, sorry. This was a shell company, that already made money. These companies are designed to live for a short period, make a lot of money, then go down in flames. The 'troll' is actually Austin Hansley, the lawyer representing eDekka. Amazingly, he also represents the #2 and #3 patent troll companies of 2014...
The first claim was over the transparency line.
The judge from ET understood it.
The 1st claim is basically any method for storing information as data and creating an index for retrieval in 1992.
I believe the card index in a library predates this.
From the patent:
"1. Method for storing information provided by a user which comprises:
in response to user input, receiving and storing information;
in response to user input, designating the information as data while the information is being received;
in response to user input, designating at least a portion of the information as a label while the information is being received;
in response to user input, traversing a data structure and providing an indication of a location in the data structure;
in response to user input, storing the label at the location in the data structure; and
associating the label with the data"
If the system had an escalating charge system like: first suit every month is free, second one you pay, third one you pay double, etc. it could make life more difficult for single entities... they'd have to fragment their identity to make the trolling cost-effective. Then you have to place a suitable cost on fragmenting of identities, which is another thing we've needed for a long time (the cost of creating a shell corporation is just too damn low.)
Actually no, this is just a shell company. So if they win attorney fees the shell will have no money to pay it. and he will just make another shell to keep suing.
Put them out of business and somebody will buy their patents from the bankruptcy estate and start the process all over again. This will only work if a technology company that actually makes stuff purchases the bankruptcy assets.
Confucius say: Baseball all wrong. Man with 4 balls cannot walk.
In the patent troll force, as if hundred of cases suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced in a swoop.
One of the nastiest patent abuse stories I read in recent years is the one about asthma inhalers. The government mandated that the propellant that had long been used be replaced with something that was ozone-safe (or something). The drug companies went and put out new versions of their identical medications and were able to re-patent the whole thing. Suddenly, there were no longer generics available for this tried-and-true medications, and the price went through the roof.
Now, nothing new was invented, so why were new patents granted? Apparently this goes on all the time. it was particularly ugly here because the government mandated taking the old non-protected products off the market. Normally a 'new', reformulated drug has to compete with the old generics - i.e., it has to at least be better to succeed. Some of you will argue that this is a 'government == bad' situation, but really? Can we just assume the old stuff was taken off for a good reason and continue from there...
Anyway, my real point is that all the 'do standard computer function X, but do it on a smartphone' patents are essentially the same thing. There's no new innovation there - just reformulation to work on a different device. And face it, today's smartphones aren't even different devices any more. They're general purpose computers - just like the desktops and laptops of yore. 'Do on a phone' patents assume that communicating something over a cellular modem or with a touch-screen interface is somehow different than doing it over wifi or ethernet, or with a keyboard and mouse. It's not.
There is no invention here. Just like there's not really an invention in putting out, say, a time-release version of your existing medication. The medication exists (valid invention), time-release delivery exists (valid invention). Combining the two is at best an 'invention' of a much lesser scale. I think it's not worthy of patent protection at all - but even if it is, it should be a lesser form of protection. Either much shorter duration or carrying much reduced penalties for violation.
Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
This in spades.
The USA has no "loser pays winners court fees" model, so the trolls can afford to keep banging away.
This model may change with a recent Supreme Court decision relating to patent trolls. Expect to see more orders for costs when they lose.
It's gratifying to know I'm so important to you that you would waste precious time out of your mortal life looking for my posts like this. Like Bugs Bunny says, "I didn't know you cared".
Incidentally, disagreeing with you and stating my reasons for disagreement is not generally called "trolling". It's better known as "having a discussion". If disagreement with you is automatically trolling then you're clearly a deeply insecure human being. I got some bad news for you, Sunshine: there are well over 7 billion people in the world and many of them will not agree with you. It's one of those facts of life. Retreat back to your echo chamber if it comforts you.
See subject & this link you RAN from "Forrest" http://slashdot.org/comments.p...
FACT:
Validly technically disproving my points on hosts giving users more speed, security, reliability & anonymity doing FAR MORE for FAR LESS RESOURCES CONSUMED?
LOL - It can't be done & you know it - Plus, YOU downmodding this same post TWICE before http://slashdot.org/comments.p... AND http://slashdot.org/comments.p... & running from a fair challenge says it all for me, weasel - you "talk big" on discussion, but you can't face that one, now can you? NOPE! You fail...
You pitiful wannabe guru little do-nothing trolls are WEAK, & mere "users" of others' work, creating NOTHING OF VALUE of your own... just a lot of blowhard windbag "hot air" & nothing more (& you know that too, now don't you? Prove otherwise!)
* You wannabes make me sick... you're disgusting.
APK
P.S.=> You wanted opinions on my program? Ok, here's a couple:
"I like your host file system." - by Karmashock (2415832) on Wednesday September 09, 2015 @03:57PM (#50489401)
+
"his hosts program is actually pretty good" - by xenotransplant (4179011) on Monday August 10, 2015 @03:34PM (#50287195)
Where's YOUR PROGRAM (it's not) that others like & find effective that YOU created, hmmm?
See subject: On hosts adding speed, security, reliability & anonymity - doing so using LESS yet doing FAR MORE than weak slow usermode messagepassing, RAM, & CPU overuse overheads (vs. hosts in kernelmode, native to your system vs. "bolting on 'MoAr'")
FACT:
It can't be done & you know it - Plus, YOU downmodding this same post TWICE before http://slashdot.org/comments.p... AND http://slashdot.org/comments.p... & running from a fair challenge says it all for me, weasel - you "talk big" on discussion, but you can't face that one, now can you? NOPE! You fail...
You pitiful wannabe guru little do-nothing trolls are WEAK, & mere "users" of others' work, creating NOTHING OF VALUE of your own... just a lot of blowhard windbag "hot air" & nothing more (& you know that too, now don't you? Prove otherwise!)
* You wannabes make me sick... you're disgusting.
APK
P.S.=> You wanted opinions on my program? Ok, here's a couple:
"I like your host file system." - by Karmashock (2415832) on Wednesday September 09, 2015 @03:57PM (#50489401)
+
"his hosts program is actually pretty good" - by xenotransplant (4179011) on Monday August 10, 2015 @03:34PM (#50287195)
Where's YOUR PROGRAM (it's not) that others like & find effective that YOU created, hmmm?