So what's the reason? It turns out defendants are unlikely to win a case on summary judgement since judges usually let juries rule on patent conflicts. In a way, it raises risks and costs for defendants.
Also, the advantage of Eastern District of Texas is that trials tend to be short. Since it's really difficult to put up with effective defense with multiple defendants, it is estimated that trials are over in a week.
For instance, Eolas went into trial with University of California claiming that they have the ownership of interactive web. It's stated that they demanded hundred millions from Google, Yahoo, and Amazon. However, the trial was over when jury invalidated the patent after 4 days of trial.
Furthermore, it's stated that jurors are likely to be more inclined towards large lawsuits. Also East Texas population has less experience with technology due to the high population of older generation. It is also stated that jurors are generally pro-plaintiff. Apparently, they have other qualities that prove why they are popular.They have plaintiff-friendly local rules as well as speedy dispositions.
Used these to write up my blog post. Visit them if you'd like!
Source: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/01/east-texas-courts-are-back-on-top-for-patent-lawsuits/
Source: http://www.thejuryexpert.com/2010/03/east-texas-jurors-and-patent-litigation/
The thing I find interesting about the Eastern District of Texas is that it becomes possible that people who aren't that knowledgeable about the case/technologies can end up deciding the fate of companies.
ReplyDeleteTrue. It also leads to unfair judgement. I was annoyed that there is no change to the federal court system regarding these patent cases.
DeleteYeah it's disturbing. I saw from the news that a lot of foreign companies(I am sure a lot of domestic ones too)are taking advantage of the system. Hopefully this gets resolved. I know patent litigation is a complicated issue, but this is not the wise way to go about it.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to what you posted, I think these less technologically educated jurors may also have the opinion that there should have been an infringement for the plaintiffs to file the lawsuit in the first place. Since it becomes confusing when the technical details are explained, they may just decide to side with the plaintiffs without even considering the evidence much.
ReplyDeleteYeah this is one of the problem that comes up when jurors with no technical background are deciding on cases. It's true that they may just go for the side with their preference of products rather than legitimate claim.
DeleteI was also quite surprised to find out how different districts vary quite a bit in terms of patent lawsuit filing. I would think that the process would be standardized and uniform across the country, but i guess this discrepancy has become a huge loophole that many companies have gone after. Definitely think something needs to be done about this.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to note how these bigger companies have the sway to choose where they'd like to proceed with the legal processes of patent infringement. I don't think a smaller entity would ever be able to pull something similar off. Outside of IP/Patents however I find it extremely interesting that you can go to different parts of the US and that'll actually effect the outcome of a trial because of population pool to be considered for the jury
ReplyDelete