In international law and business,patent trolling or patent hoarding is a categorical or pejorative term applied to a person or company that attempts to enforce patent rights against accused infringers far beyond the patent's actual value or contribution to the prior art,often through hardball legal tactics. Patent trolls often do not manufacture products or supply services based upon the patents in question. However,some entities which do not practice their asserted patent may not be considered "patent trolls" when they license their patented technologies on reasonable terms in advance.
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas is a federal court in the Fifth Circuit.
Baylor Law School is the oldest law school in Texas. Baylor Law School is affiliated with Baylor University and located in Waco,Texas. The school has been accredited by the American Bar Association since 1931 and has been a member of the Association of American Law Schools since 1938. The program offers training in all facets of law,including theoretical analysis,practical application,legal writing,advocacy,professional responsibility,and negotiation and counseling skills.
Alcatel-Lucent v. Microsoft Corp.,also known as Lucent Technologies Inc. v. Gateway Inc.,was a long-running patent infringement case between Alcatel-Lucent and Microsoft litigated in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California and appealed multiple times to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Alcatel-Lucent was awarded $1.53 billion in a final verdict in August 2007 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in San Diego. The damages award was reversed on appeal in September 2009,and the case was returned for a separate trial on the amount of damages.
T. John Ward is a retired United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. He is best known for the large number of patent infringement cases brought before his court in Marshall,Texas.
William Mark Lanier is an American trial lawyer and founder and CEO of the Lanier Law Firm. He has led a number of high profile product litigation suits resulting in billions of dollars in damages,including Johnson &Johnson baby powder and Merck &Co.'s Vioxx drug.
Leonard E. Davis is an American lawyer and former judge. He served as Chief Justice of the Twelfth Court of Appeals of Texas,from 2000-2002,and was nominated by George W. Bush on January 23,2002 to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas until his retirement May 15th,2015.
McKool Smith is a U.S. trial firm with more than 130 trial lawyers across seven offices in Austin,Dallas,Houston,Los Angeles,Marshall,New York City,and Washington,DC. The firm represents clients in disputes involving complex commercial litigation,intellectual property (IP),bankruptcy,and white collar defense matters.
Keker,Van Nest &Peters LLP is a litigation boutique located in San Francisco,California,founded in 1978. The firm's areas of practice include intellectual property,professional liability,class actions,wrongful termination defense,general contract and commercial litigation,antitrust,white collar crime,and appellate.
TiVo Inc. v. EchoStar Corp. is a case stretching from 2004 to 2011,which took place in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. TiVo Inc. sued EchoStar Corp. claiming patent infringement of a DVR technology. The issues addressed during litigation included patent infringement,wording of injunctions,infringing product redesign,contempt of court orders,and contempt sanctions. Ultimately,the court held that EchoStar Corp. had indeed infringed TiVo Inc's patent and was in contempt of court for noncompliance of an injunction. The parties reached a settlement wherein EchoStar Corp. paid TiVo Inc. a licensing fee. Further,the court replaced the established contempt test with a single step test. The simplified test makes it more difficult for patent holders to prove contempt as a result of repeat infringement.
Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co.,Ltd. was the first of a series of ongoing lawsuits between Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics regarding the design of smartphones and tablet computers;between them,the companies made more than half of smartphones sold worldwide as of July 2012. In the spring of 2011,Apple began litigating against Samsung in patent infringement suits,while Apple and Motorola Mobility were already engaged in a patent war on several fronts. Apple's multinational litigation over technology patents became known as part of the mobile device "smartphone patent wars":extensive litigation in fierce competition in the global market for consumer mobile communications. By August 2011,Apple and Samsung were litigating 19 ongoing cases in nine countries;by October,the legal disputes expanded to ten countries. By July 2012,the two companies were still embroiled in more than 50 lawsuits around the globe,with billions of dollars in damages claimed between them. While Apple won a ruling in its favor in the U.S.,Samsung won rulings in South Korea,Japan,and the UK. On June 4,2013,Samsung won a limited ban from the U.S. International Trade Commission on sales of certain Apple products after the commission found Apple had violated a Samsung patent,but this was vetoed by U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman.
Thomas M. Melsheimer is a trial lawyer and a partner at the international law firm of Winston &Strawn,where he also serves as managing partner of its Dallas office and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. His trial experience encompasses both civil and criminal litigation. On the civil side,he has tried to verdict cases involving patent infringement,trade secrets,insider trading,antitrust,breach of fiduciary duty,fraud,product liability,and False Claims Act (FCA) violations. On the criminal side,he has tried to verdict cases involving bank fraud,public corruption,copyright infringement,aggravated sexual assault,and kidnapping. His clients include a variety of high-net-worth individuals and notable corporations,including the Dallas Mavericks and owner Mark Cuban,Microsoft,Bank of America,and Texas Instruments. Melsheimer is the co-author of a best-selling book on trial advocacy,On the Jury Trial:Principles and Practices for Effective Advocacy
Robert William Schroeder III is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Kara Farnandez Stoll is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Halo Electronics,Inc. v. Pulse Electronics,Inc.,579 U.S. ___ (2016),was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the two-part Seagate test,used to determine when a district court may increase damages for patent infringement,is not consistent with Section 284 of the Patent Act.
Roy Steven Payne is currently a U.S. magistrate judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. He previously served as a U.S. magistrate judge in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana from 1987 to 2005.
Alan D Albright is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas. He was formerly a United States magistrate judge of the same court. Albright oversees a significant portion of patent litigation within the United States. In 2021,the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit repeatedly rebuked him in a string of opinions for failing to transfer cases to more apt jurisdictions. A quarter of all patent lawsuits in the US were once heard by Albright,who has been widely criticized for ignoring binding case law. However,following a docket-stripping order issued by Chief Judge Orlando Garcia,Albright's patent docket has declined precipitously.
TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC,581 U.S. ___ (2017),was a United States Supreme Court case concerning the venue in patent infringement lawsuits.
Ada Elene Brown is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. She is a former trial judge of the Dallas County courts and a former Justice of the Fifth Court of Appeals of Texas. She is the first African-American woman federal judge nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate. She is also the first African American woman to sit as a federal judge in the 140- year-history of the Northern District of Texas. A citizen of the Choctaw Nation,Brown is also one of six actively serving Native American federal judges of 673 federal district court judges. When appointed to the federal bench,Brown became the only woman judge in the 233-year history of the Choctaw Nation to serve as a federal judge.
Commil USA,LLC v. Cisco Systems,Inc., 135 S.Ct. 1920 (2015),was a 2015 decision by the United States Supreme Court pertaining to the standard for induced patent infringement. Writing for a 6-2 majority,Justice Anthony Kennedy held that (1) a claim of induced infringement requires a showing that the defendant knew that it is engaging in infringing conduct and (2) a defendant's belief that a patent is invalid is not a defense to a claim of induced infringement. Justice Antonin Scalia dissented from the second point,arguing that,in his view,a good faith belief in a patent's invalidity should constitute a defense to a charge of induced infringement.
