Supreme Court puts a dent on patent trolls

[NumLock21]

The Supreme Count had ruled on Monday with a vote of 8-0 that defendants who are filing a patent infringement lawsuit, can only do where they are incorporated. This has overruled the previous ruling where defendants can file patent lawsuits anywhere their products are sold. The latest ruling came from a legal battle between beverage flavoring company TC Heartland LLC and food and beverage company Kraft Heinz Co. Where

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Kraft filed a dispute against Heartland in a Delaware federal court. Heartland attempted to get the matter transferred to its home state of Indiana, arguing that it has no presence in Delaware and that 98 percent of its sales come from outside of the state. The aforementioned appeals court last year denied the request for transfer.

With the new ruling in place, it will make it more difficult for patent trolls to file lawsuits, cause...

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One hotbed for patent trolls is East Texas as evident by the fact that more than 40 percent of all patent suits in the US are filed in that region. Today’s ruling should make it harder for patent trolls to go after companies and may even dissuade firms from filing suits in the first place, thus allowing tech companies to focus on what really matters: innovation.

 

http://www.techspot.com/news/69421-supreme-court-makes-harder-patent-trolls-hand-pick.html

https://www.techpowerup.com/233616/patent-trolls-to-lose-their-homefield-advantage-thanks-to-supreme-court

[GDRRiley]

dam. 

[Drak3]

1 minute ago, GDRRiley said:

dam. 

What does the architectural achievement of beavers have to do with anything?

[GDRRiley]

Just now, Drak3 said:

What does the architectural achievement of beavers have to do with anything?

the spike and where 40% are all in the same location 

[Aaron Wolfy Black Fox]

So this means all the patent trolls will be moving to east texas?

[mr moose]

I would rather they set some hard definitions for what constitutes patent trolling. I.E things like only being able to start legal proceedings if you actually manufacture or directly contract manufacturing of a product that uses said IP.   This would end patent portfolios or at least limit them to active production. 

[TetraSky]

Now if they could set more rule like "if you're not doing anything with the patent, you lose it" kind of deal, that'd be great. Because a lot of patent trolls essentially just buy patents and sit on them, suing anybody who come up with "similar" concepts.

[Taf the Ghost]

It's nice to see some shut-down on court shopping.

[Ertman]

They need to overhaul the whole system.

 

for example, a patent shouldn't be issued for a vague undefined concept, as it often does.

[Bensemus]

5 hours ago, mr moose said:

I would rather they set some hard definitions for what constitutes patent trolling. I.E things like only being able to start legal proceedings if you actually manufacture or directly contract manufacturing of a product that uses said IP.   This would end patent portfolios or at least limit them to active production. 

Then you couldn't defend patents for ideas that are still being finalized. You would have done all the work to create the product and someone could beat you to making it and you wouldn't be able to go after them with that patent with your suggestion.

[rucdoc]

I would like to note the OP is mistaken a bit in their statement. The defendant is the one being sued, the plantif is the one filing suit. the plantif's now must file suit in the region in which the defendant is incorporated. so if a company is incorporated in southern california, the plantif must sue them in the federal courts of southern california

[mr moose]

26 minutes ago, Bensemus said:

Then you couldn't defend patents for ideas that are still being finalized. You would have done all the work to create the product and someone could beat you to making it and you wouldn't be able to go after them with that patent with your suggestion.

 

It wouldn't be hard to put a time constraint on new patents or patents in development.  Simply meaning a new patent could be listed as an R+D patent giving the company protection until the product goes into full production.

[Sakkura]

11 hours ago, Aaron Wolfy Black Fox said:

So this means all the patent trolls will be moving to east texas?

No. The patent trolls are the plaintiffs, this ruling says lawsuits must be filed where the defendants are incorporated. So if a patent troll wants to sue a company, they can't just decide to sue in East Texas because the courts there are bought and paid for by friendly to patent trolls, they have to file where that company is actually from.

 

So a lot of patent lawsuits in the tech industry would be happening in California or Washington state etc. rather than a backwater like East Texas.

[rucdoc]

I figured I would toss this in here because it's relavent. here is the offical order: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/16pdf/16-341_8n59.pdf

[Crossbred]

Great math behind the "98% of sales are out of state": 

100% / 50 states = 2%

If its a national company deleware is exactly average for sales...