In a decision issued last week, Judge Gilstrap—the “poster boy” for patent trolls’ favorite court, the Eastern District of Texas—has mangled the law on induced infringement, contributory infringement, and willfulness. The ruling in Motiva v. Sony & HTC contradicts case law and the logic of the statute, cites case law for a proposition it explicitly…
Tag Archive for Eastern District of Texas
No More Bites At The Apple In The Eastern District
by Josh Landau •
Last week, it was widely reported that Apple plans to close its retail stores in the Eastern District of Texas in order to avoid facing patent lawsuits in the district. Given that a single patent lawsuit can easily cost just as much as opening an Apple store (estimated at $8-10 million per store), even if…
NPE Resurrects Canceled Patent To Go After Restaurants
by Josh Landau •
A few years ago, a company called MacroSolve stopped creating products and started creating patent litigation. Its tool was a patent that claimed to cover mobile questionnaires. But after several of their targets decided to fight back, filing an ex parte reexamination request that wound up cancelling all of the claims of its patent, MacroSolve…
The Inventor Protection Act Would Actually Harm U.S. Innovation
by Josh Landau •
Yesterday, I went through the serious defects in the findings Rep. Rohrabacher based his Inventor Protection Act on. Today, I’ll discuss the problems with the legal changes the bill seeks to make.
If A Free Patent Portfolio License Sounds Too Good To Be True—It Is
by Josh Landau •
Non-practicing entities (NPEs) are generally companies with only one asset—their patents. So why would an NPE give away licenses to the only things it can generate value from? If it seems too good to be true, that’s because it might be. Act Now For A Free Patent License! iPEL (Innovative Patents, Ethical Licensing) is a…
All My Excess (Venue) Leaving Texas
by Josh Landau •
Yesterday afternoon, the Federal Circuit overturned the Eastern District of Texas’s test for venue. Even after TC Heartland, patent trolls were trying to keep defendants in the Eastern District of Texas. And in the first order issued by Judge Gilstrap, in a case called Raytheon v. Cray, it seemed like he was going to cooperate.…
TC Heartland’s Effects: A Bang Or A Whimper?
by Josh Landau •
Since tomorrow we’re celebrating Independence Day here in D.C., I thought I’d go back and revisit the Independence From Eastern Texas case, TC Heartland, to see how big of an effect it has really had so far. Are we talking: Or more of a: Prediction And Reality Post-TC Heartland, a number of predictions (including…
The Special Nature Of Venue In Patent Law
by Josh Landau •
TC Heartland continues to impact the world of patent litigation. I haven’t run the numbers yet on what’s happened since the decision came down, but just having read through the list of cases filed, the Eastern District of Texas certainly has seen a reduction in cases filed. Tomorrow morning, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on…
ContentGuard: Arguendo
by Josh Landau •
Today, we watched as a man stood in front of a panel and explained how the other side had behaved improperly and how the decisions they made were incorrect and contrary to applicable legal standards. I’m speaking, of course, of the ContentGuard oral arguments. What did you think I was talking about? Oral Argument at the…
ContentGuard: Validity and Privilege
by Josh Landau •
Monday I summarized the history of the ContentGuard cases, and yesterday I described the process of claim interpretation. Today, we’ll turn to an issue that we’ve focused on recently, patent validity. ContentGuard convinced the jury that the ContentGuard patents were valid—can they convince the Federal Circuit? Abstract Ideas We’ve written a lot about patents on…