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Eastern Federal court and the USPTO, Who is to blame for patent litigation run a muck?

January 5th, 2011

district court eastern district of texasFor those who hadn’t seen the show “Marriage Ref” one thing that happens to you when you watch is you find yourself quickly trying to identify who you side with. Taking you through a collage of video footage, you hear about a problem in the marriage and watch as celebrities and the host decides who is at fault.

I’m thinking we should set up a “Marriage Ref” between the eastern federal court district of Texas and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). And the problem?

Who’s more to blame for the out of control patent infringement litigation trend? On one side is East Texas’ very own establishing a standard of court decisions that has rewarded the majority patent holders of infringement.

On the other side is the USPTO and what could be seen as a low standard for patents to be given. Although giving the blame to one or the other isn’t as important as dealing with the problem itself. There is a laundry list of reasons that can be given as to why the obvious abuse of patent litigation needs to be stopped.

There is also a pretty good list of what can be done to hinder this. But these two groups stand at opposite ends of the spectrum with potential to put an end to this abuse. At the grass roots the USPTO can raise the standard of issuance of patents to be more clear in its distinction and perhaps concerning the manufacturing of the patent invention.

At the other end, court districts like the ones in East Texas can tweak its standard of what real damage has happened and the amount of compensation. Either way, something needs to be done to get this marriage cleaned up.

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, are we in the closet about patent litigation abuse in East Texas?

December 24th, 2010

Patent Litigation East Texas“Don’t ask, don’t tell” has come back into our attention once again as a number of court decisions have President Barak Obama and his administration reconsidering the policy of any homosexual military man or woman keeping their sexual preference to themselves.

This policy is the ultimate case of “turning a blind eye” or looking the other way. Saving the debate of the policy to “Don’t ask, don’t tell” in the military for other blogs, we do want to visit East Texas’ own practice of the “Don’t ask, don’t tell”.

With tongue firmly stuck in cheek and shoulders shrugged in wonder, we can “say” that we don’t know why the number of patent infringement cases had grown from 14 in 2003 to 256 in 2006, but who are we really kidding? Can East Texas continue the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” approach towards the growing number of “patent trolls” paying a visit to its humble little court circuit?

This unethical practice of buying off patents for the sole purpose of suing other business over patent infringements has been quietly picking up steam the past 7 years and Marshall, Texarkana, and Tyler are their favorite dance partners.

What once started out as these “trolls” taking advantage of the rules and policies of the eastern Texas court circuits is now coming dangerously close to becoming a source of scandal. Isn’t it a little suspicious that one patent lawyer’s father is a judge who decides favorably for plaintiffs in infringement cases?

As is taking place nationally with our military perhaps it’s time for the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy to be reconsidered in East Texas before it’s too late.