The Case For Patent Reform In High Tech

Gary Shapiro, head of the CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) explains:

“This case is Exhibit A for patent reform. The patent troll in this case doesn’t produce any products and services, has zero employees and operates from an office across the street from the courthouse in the notoriously troll-friendly Eastern District of Texas,” 

But in their defense, there’s just no room for employees in their tiny office just down the street from the federal courthouse.

Naturally, Apple will fight the verdict and they have the lawyers and money to do it.

Computer Dealer News

$1B lawsuit filed against U.S. government for voice and face recognition patent infringement

Texas based 3rd Eye Surveillance and Baltimore based Discovery Patents have filed an infringement lawsuit against the U.S. federal government seeking damages of more than $1 billion for unlawful use of the company’s three video and image surveillance patents, two of which covered voice and facial recognition software by James Otis Faulkner.

Faulkner’s invention includes the method of transmitting real-time surveillance video and images to emergency workers via a communications link, as well as two subsequent patents that were issued to cover voice and facial recognition software.

The three patents allow the government to provide real-time surveillance video, audio recognition, facial recognition and infrared images to emergency responders and defense agencies.

BiometricUpdate

FatPipe Networks Files Infringement Lawsuit Against Talari Networks

FatPipe Inc, the inventor of software defined networks for wide area connectivity and hybrid WANs, announced that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Talari Networks, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The company asserts that Talari Networks' products infringe on FatPipe Networks patents and seek injunctive relief to stop further sale of the infringing Talari Networks products.

FatPipe currently has 11 U.S. patents and over 180 technology claims related to multipath, software defined networking and additional patent applications pending. This complaint asserts that the technology in Talari Networks products infringes on one or more claims of certain FatPipe's patents.

Press Release - Digital Journal

How east Texas became the epicenter for 'patent troll' lawsuits

Of the 4,070 patent lawsuits filed in the USA in 2012, 3,000 of them were of the trolling kind. East Texas seems to be a particular popular spot for these types of cases. Apple alone has been sued 84 times in area patent courts in the last six years, Chron.com reported in March.

A quarter of all patent cases are filed in the East Texas city of Marshall, according to Last Week Tonight. But this is not a community of regular Einsteins.

Patent holders have a higher winning percentage here than in other parts of the country (Most cases are settled out of court since it costs millions of dollars to defend a patent suit). The number of patent infringement cases in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has skyrocketed since 2002.

Full article in Houston Chronicle

Google Cleared in Oracle Patent Suit

"In a unanimous decision, 10 jurors agreed that Oracle had not proven any of its claims that Google infringed on Java software patents in the Android operating software for smartphones and tablet computers."

From IndustryWeek

Other comments

"I find it refreshing that in this trial, both the Judge and jury proved to be much smarter than the lawyers. Thompson and others on the jury asked pretty good questions, especially considering most had no technical background at all. The judge (the Hon. William Alsup) revealed he was something of a developer himself and scoffed at some of Oracle’s arguments about the mysterious invention known as the “range check”. If you ask me, all software patent trials should be held in California from now on instead of East Texas."

Ed Burnette on ZDNet