Marshall, Texas Continues To Be Excessively Popular For Patent Litigation
from the eastern-texas-justice dept
A large part of the reason that the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals was established was that lawyers filing patent litigation suits were jurisdiction shopping, choosing district courts that were considered favorable for patent lawsuits. Of course, once the new court of appeals was set up, it just shifted the jurisdiction shopping one level lower -- and patent lawyers eventually settled on a favorite place: Marshall, Texas. Word spread quickly, as the court famously sided with patent holders at a much higher rate than any other court, and they also tended to speed through trials, so patent holders could get a fast decision. In some cases, those who were sued would settle rather than deal with an almost guaranteed loss in eastern Texas. While there have been some reports recently that (perhaps as a result of all the publicity), the folks in Marshall have started to get a bit more critical when it comes to patents, it appears that patent lawyers haven't quite figured this out yet. An anonymous attorney has started tracking where patent lawsuits are being filed and has discovered that Marshall far outranks the other courts -- especially when the case is being filed by a more questionable "patent licensing" firm. The report also notes that more patent lawsuits have been filed in Marshall this year than all of last year (during which more such lawsuits were filed than the previous two years combined). It still seems fairly ridiculous that companies that have absolutely no real presence in the region can bring their lawsuits in Marshall.
Reader Comments (rss)
(Flattened / Threaded)
Hold on... by Danny on Oct 9th, 2007 @ 8:47am
There's no provision in the law books for tactics like this? Assuming I wasn't a corporate lackey posing as a politician I'd start to wonder why one court out of hundreds was suddenly getting flooded with one specific type of lawsuit.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Marshall by william on Oct 9th, 2007 @ 10:19am
They seem to like this court because it is fast called the "Rocket Docket" these cases are settled in months instead of years.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1103549728998
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
by Anonymous Coward on Oct 9th, 2007 @ 10:44am
Isn't it nice that the courts are impartial and fair. This trend to shop lawsuits would concern me more if the courts weren't so impartial.
yes, sarcasm
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Marshall by Witty Nickname on Oct 9th, 2007 @ 10:55am
I lived in Marshall for four years while I attended college there. It is important to note that there is more to Marshall than patent judges, it is also home to racists, high crime, idiots (guess that would fall under racists huh?) and the Festival of Lights!
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Marshall by Willem on Oct 12th, 2007 @ 7:59am
Well to be fair, i don't think idiots wouldn't fall under racists, not all idiots are racist, some just voted for Bush (who also comes from Texas?), all racist are idiots though, so it would be the other way around ;)
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
The problem is with how we can argue a patent! by Rob on Oct 14th, 2007 @ 7:03pm
1)Did you know that the only way to reverse a patent is to violate the patent and go to court?
2)THe US is the only country in the world that does not allow for a second patent review even if proir art is present!
3) If you think I'm lieing look a procter and Gambel(P&G) patent for Niacinnamide. P&G has patented water. And they are suing companies on this basis.
THe patent reviewers are the real idiots!
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: The problem is with how we can argue a patent! by Tom on Dec 2nd, 2007 @ 6:11am
Not true--there is a process called re-examination where you can challenge a patent at the USPTO after it has issued provided the challenge is based on prior art that the USPTO was not aware of when they issued the patent.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Add Your Comment