Apple Plans to Close Stores in Eastern District of Texas in Fight Against Patent Trolls [Updated]

[TheShadowKnows!]

[According to Google there are 94 Federal Judicial Districts (at least one on each state, and some with more.)]

Moving away from the Eastern District of Texas, the plaintiff trolls will just relocate to the next "friendly" judicial venue, where Apple has presence commercially.

They will just pick the next one on the queue.
Rinse and repeat.

 

[old-wiz]

haha, beat me to the comment =)

I keep wondering if the juries and judges get a cut of any monetary damages.

 

[lederermc]

I would also stop shipping products there. Let then eat Androids or drive to Dallas.

 

[dittman]

Well that sucks. Willow Bend and Stonebriar were the two stores I always go to. Northpark and Knox areas are always ridiculously crowded and inconvenient. Same with the Galleria.

The Willow Bend and Stonebriar stores are the ones I always use as well as they are close and as you mentioned not as crowded.

 

[handsome421]

This is hilarious and kind of sad for the Apple fans in that District. The love for giant damages in their community has driven out a job-creator. Good job guys.

 

[busyscott]

Well that is inconvenient... Apple Stonebriar is my Apple Store.

Vote in better politicians.

 

[ilikewhey]

makes sense, by not having physical location, and i guess that district doesn't have a long arm jurisdiction, apple can't be dragged into the courts there since they didn't personally avail themselves to that district.

 

[DrJohnnyN]

Well that is inconvenient... Apple Stonebriar is my Apple Store.

Welp, there go my two closest Apple stores. Looking at close to an hour's trip and significant toll fees to get to one now. Awesome.

Well that sucks. Willow Bend and Stonebriar were the two stores I always go to. Northpark and Knox areas are always ridiculously crowded and inconvenient. Same with the Galleria.

As a University Park resident, I'm happy about the news. Plano/Frisco is for those who can't afford the Park Cities / Dallas proper.

 

[macfacts]

Apple and their workarounds. Dirty tricks.

 

[gnasher729]

Talk about spitting your dummy out. Is that how pathetic Apple really have become?

Eastern District of Texas is known worldwide as the court for patent trolls. Apple is making a very wise decision here. I hope it reduces tax income for the Eastern District.

 

[macfacts]

Say you had 20 convenience stores. 18 are doing fine. 2 of them in Downtown Detroit keep getting robbed, you're losing money there. Is it pathetic for you to stop serving Downtown Detroit?

Comparing apple stealing then getting sued & customers robbing apple? Lol.

 

[gnasher729]

[According to Google there are 94 Federal Judicial Districts (at least one on each state, and some with more.)]

Moving away from the Eastern District of Texas, the plaintiff trolls will just relocate to the next "friendly" judicial venue, where Apple has presence commercially.

They will just pick the next one on the queue.
Rinse and repeat.

Here's the problem for the patent troll: There is ONE court in the USA that has deliberately supported patent trolls, in order to get their "business". 93 more courts try to rule in a fair and unbiased way, and therefore are completely unsuitable for patent trolls.

Apple and their workarounds. Dirty tricks.

What dirty tricks? Either this court is totally biassed towards patent trolls, in which case it's just right for Apple to do what they can to stay out of this court. Or that court isn't biased, then why complain? 93 more courts to chose from.

 

[palebluedot]

Eastern District of Texas is known worldwide as the court for patent trolls. Apple is making a very wise decision here. I hope it reduces tax income for the Eastern District.

I am surprised by how few people in this thread dont understand how the American judicial system works. Federal district courts don't generate taxable income. Local residents in a district have no say over where a district court sits or even the judges that are appointed (except by their proxy vote for a POTUS and Senate, if that). In a lot of ways this is a good thing because it is how you had a more favorable judiciary to extend equality and rights during desegregation and the like.

Also, as others have said, there seems to be strong legal research showing EDTX is not as favorable in judgments as other districts. This is purely a litigation cost avoidance measure, no doubt.

 

[puckhead193]

gotta love the lawyers! What happens to all the employees? I hope they have the option to move to the new store.

 

[Khedron]

Lol Apple is pathetic? What's pathetic is that ****** patent trolls continually file in this same district because they know they'll probably win, and the system just accepts it as normal.
[doublepost=1550852956][/doublepost]

I'm struggling to comprehend how anyone could seriously make such a ridiculous argument.

Playing devil's advocate, if the patent holder shows a valid patent in court why shouldn't they quickly and almost always win?

Why is it the court's job to waste taxpayer money to fix the broken patent system for the benefit of private companies?

If the patent office did it's job properly in the first place the Texas court could focus on serving local people.

 

[macfacts]

Apple buys companies to use their technology in actual products.

Patent trolls buy dead companies to collect patents as an arsenal to go around suing other companies. They have no employees, and contribute nothing to the economy. They're just bloodsucking zombies out to stuff the pockets of their two or three shareholders.

You are correct patent trolls buy patents from companies going out of business. But you don't know or forgot to mention apple gets sued because Apple are stealing.

 

[calstanford]

There is so much stupidity in America these days

 

[Moonjumper]

Patent law has massive potential for good: It incentivises people to create because there is a system to help them earn from it.

Unfortunately it also has massive potential for bad: For example, people writing vaguely defined patents that are not used in real products, then selling them to companies whose sole job is to stretch the definition to the limit to attack legitimate businesses.

The current system is broken when people have to protect themselves from trolls, yet does so little to protect those who are trying to do the right thing.

 

[FierceCorgi]

The willow bend store is the biggest Apple store in the dfw area. It houses the business support staff and a lot of other things. Surprising they’re uprooting this.

Well, Galleria does have a lot of attached office space if they want to keep them nearby. Or they could just transfer those operations down to Austin.

 

[genovelle]

In terms of filing, the rules in EDTX are the same as every single other district in this country.

It’s their status as a troll haven that is at issue.

 

[gnasher729]

You are correct patent trolls buy patents from companies going out of business. But you don't know or forgot to mention apple gets sued because Apple are stealing.

That's like saying that a highway robber only holds up people with stolen money.

 

[69Mustang]

[According to Google there are 94 Federal Judicial Districts (at least one on each state, and some with more.)]

Moving away from the Eastern District of Texas, the plaintiff trolls will just relocate to the next "friendly" judicial venue, where Apple has presence commercially.

They will just pick the next one on the queue.
Rinse and repeat.

It's not the location that is at issue. It's the judges. Judges like Rodney Gilstrap. The judges have a reputation for plaintiff friendly verdicts. Also they can't just relocate to a friendly venue of their choice. The laws have changed to help mitigate venue shopping.

 

[FierceCorgi]

This is hilarious and kind of sad for the Apple fans in that District. The love for giant damages in their community has driven out a job-creator. Good job guys.

I doubt the communities of Plano and Frisco get much benefit from the rulings of judges in Tyler and Texarkana. Not sure why the Eastern District Court developed into this patent-suit-friendly mode, but suburbs located 200 miles away probably had little to do with it.

 

[Jason Cox]

Willow Bend I can see them closing as it's never that busy... but Stonebriar? That place is always packed. I can't imagine the money in Far North Dallas is going to happy when a CS agent tell them they have to drive an hour south just to get their phone or laptop fixed when their used to be a store 20 minutes away in two really good malls.

 

[genovelle]

Once again, trying to skirt the law.
Although the "patent trolls" hammer  for every infringement it makes on other's IP, the fact is  is frequently stealing other's IP. Verified by the number of patent cases won against them.
Bottom line:  steals IP and doesn't want to pay for it. Enhancing people's lives... Theirs.

There is a reason patent trolls around the world flock to this place. If companies from other places are picking this one district to troll, there is a huge bias likely. So, now they will have to level to playing field. If they didn’t think they would have an advantage they would just file in their own state.