Have you ever sat on a jury, either civil or criminal? It is quite amazing how twelve people can listen to the same evidence and reach very different conclusions about what happened.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Plans to Close Stores in Eastern District of Texas in Fight Against Patent Trolls [Updated]
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Have you ever sat on a jury, either civil or criminal? It is quite amazing how twelve people can listen to the same evidence and reach very different conclusions about what happened.
Very true...but there is no proof that has happened to a whole district in Texas. Then you could say that about all juries in every state. So are they closing those stores too?
Then not all of the patent litigation going on in eastern Texas is done by juries....some are ruled on by judges.
I mean I don't like patent trolls either.....so don't get me wrong here. I just don't see closing these 2 stores as making any difference at all.
The word "troll" implies bad and immoral - that is what a troll is. Troll under the bridge and all. If you want a neutral label to describe a business model, then we have many of those already: non-practicing entity or patent-assertion entity.
[doublepost=1550861860][/doublepost]
I agree with this. If a company happily takes 1/10th of the value, they are a troll. However, those are pretty rare and what most people on this forum describe as "trolls" include companies that would never settle for 1/10th but would absolutely take it all the way to get real value out of the patents.
Willow Bend is on the west side of Dallas North Tollway which runs north-south, and the Galleria is on the east side of that same road. So the notion that they'd be closing Willow Bend because of it being in East Texas is entirely fatuous. They're both in the northern Dallas region. Stonebriar is further north. I don't know how Stonebriar is, but I know that Willow Bend in general has not been as popular a mall as people expected. I knew a woman who worked at a department store there. That store closed too. Willow Bend has been a disappointment generally, and Galleria is very active. Don't blame a closing on silly crap it has nothing to do with. East Texas is already embarrassing enough to us Texans 
If you take a look at the map that was posted, the Eastern District does cover that area. Like Congressional Districts, Judicial Districts can have some odd boundaries.
This move, if it does happen, wouldn't make the Eastern District of Texas an improper venue in general for civil actions brought against Apple. There's a specific rule for patent infringement actions, 28 US §1400(b), which would depend on Apple having "a regular and established place of business" in the district (because Apple doesn't, for purposes of that rule, reside in the ED of TX).
There's a different rule for federal civil actions in general, 28 US §1391, which would depend on Apple being subject to a given court's personal jurisdiction. A defendant can be subject to a court's personal jurisdiction even if that defendant doesn't have a regular and established place of business within its geographic jurisdiction. For instance, Apple shipping products into the ED of TX would subject it to that court's personal jurisdiction.
Willow Bend is on the west side of Dallas North Tollway which runs north-south, and the Galleria is on the east side of that same road. So the notion that they'd be closing Willow Bend because of it being in East Texas is entirely fatuous. They're both in the northern Dallas region. Stonebriar is further north. I don't know how Stonebriar is, but I know that Willow Bend in general has not been as popular a mall as people expected. I knew a woman who worked at a department store there. That store closed too. Willow Bend has been a disappointment generally, and Galleria is very active. Don't blame a closing on silly crap it has nothing to do with. East Texas is already embarrassing enough to us Texans
Willow Bend is in Collin Country, which is in the Eastern District of Texas. Galleria is in Dallas County, which is in the Northern District of Texas.
I'm halfway between either of these store and Southlake, but I'm in the Plano area more often... :-/ now where will I go every 3 years when I have to buy a keyboard?
Apple is the most sued of any business for patent infringement. They win almost every case.
It's really rather cute that Apple wants to play victim status but when the shoe's on the other foot not a word is said by them or any Apple fanboy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockstar_Consortium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockstar_Consortium
Yes but your politicians, cheeto's or otherwise, make laws that govern said Judges ... change the rules they have to abide by and the world becomes a better place!
Good for business?
[doublepost=1550865848][/doublepost]
Give Texas back to Mexico.
Clearly you didn’t bother to read the cited article or learn the facts.
The patentee win rates and affirmance on appellate review are not much different than any other district.
In fact the patentee win rate and affirmance rate are higher in the district where Apple’s headquarters are located than in the eastern district of Texas.
The real reason defendants don’t like the eastern district of Texas is that the rules promote fairness in the discovery process, meaning they are more likely to have to disclose facts helpful to the plaintiff.
There is no difference in the requirements to file a case, and every district in the US applies the exact same law and standards for motions to dismiss, etc.
Here's a thought, instead of picking up and moving why not get in compliance and stop infringing on patents? Apple is too big to not know they're doing that. Sorry but this seems like its Apple's issue not the courts or the patent trolls.
I really don't see how anyone could justify Apple's response. If they weren't infringing they wouldn't have to worry about losing $$ to lawsuits. Simple as that!
[doublepost=1550868631][/doublepost]
I really don't see how anyone could justify Apple's response. If they weren't infringing they wouldn't have to worry about losing $$ to lawsuits. Simple as that!
[doublepost=1550868631][/doublepost]
SCOTUS? Who's he.Well, SCOTUS ruled that physical nexus isn’t necessary to collect sales taxes, any online sales are equivalent. So is Apple going to cancel all consumer sales and support in the disputed territories?
Check this out - the guy who wrote the X-Plane flight simulator made a film about the whole patent troll issue:
https://www.thepatentscam.com/
https://www.thepatentscam.com/