Well judge Scola, you're part of the judicial branch, not the executive branch so just deal with it. Apple & Google are merely exercising their due process under the law and the legislatures dictate the law. Do your job and rule already.
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U.S. Judge Expresses Frustration at Apple's and Google's Use of Litigation as 'Business Strategy'
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I think the point of the judge is that they are refusing to compromise in any way, or act in good faith. He's not simply complaining that there are lawsuits, but the pattern shown both in filing so many and how they [fail to] work them out. Hence, obstreperous.
I have two independent thoughts on this judge's ruling. On the one hand it does not recognize the parties are using the system as presented to them and just like lawyers on many other styles of cases, are using tactics and strategy more than facts and cites as a means to extract maximal pain from the other party. With two titans, neither can run the other out of money so it becomes a practice of attorneys for the purpose of attorneys.
Also, this ruling could actually become a precedent, given it is imposing the view and opinion of the judge over the tactics and strategies the attorneys have chosen to adopt. The parties themselves are not telling their attorneys to engage in "scorched earth practices". That is the pattern and practice of attorneys generally in this country.
If the judge was serious about doing something about this he would suggest changes to rules of court or conduct of attorneys, or use his ruling to set a precedent about attorney conduct.
This is not actually about either Google or Apple.
Furthermore I object to judges asking parties to "simplify" cases, because as we saw with the $1B Samsung judgement in favor of Apple, the damages involved a table or matrix of particular individual patent claims, particular compensation styles attributable to each, and applicability.
In that situation you want every little possible claim addressed so that once the ruling is made, the matter is settled in full, not sitting on third base, with the bases loaded, and the batter hits a home run only to have the game called for lightning the moment the third base runner passes home.
That's our legal system. Resolution is not currently installed. Needs fixin'.
Rocketman
Also, this ruling could actually become a precedent, given it is imposing the view and opinion of the judge over the tactics and strategies the attorneys have chosen to adopt. The parties themselves are not telling their attorneys to engage in "scorched earth practices". That is the pattern and practice of attorneys generally in this country.
If the judge was serious about doing something about this he would suggest changes to rules of court or conduct of attorneys, or use his ruling to set a precedent about attorney conduct.
This is not actually about either Google or Apple.
Furthermore I object to judges asking parties to "simplify" cases, because as we saw with the $1B Samsung judgement in favor of Apple, the damages involved a table or matrix of particular individual patent claims, particular compensation styles attributable to each, and applicability.
In that situation you want every little possible claim addressed so that once the ruling is made, the matter is settled in full, not sitting on third base, with the bases loaded, and the batter hits a home run only to have the game called for lightning the moment the third base runner passes home.
That's our legal system. Resolution is not currently installed. Needs fixin'.
Rocketman
No. If the circumstances were as clear-cut as this, the litigation would not be as lengthy or as complex as what we are seeing today and would mostly be settled without trial. Patent and copyright litigation is rarely clear-cut. This judge is not suggesting that the companies in question don't have a right to litigate, but instead is saying that when the disputes get as long and drawn out and massively technical as they often do, that the companies should make a serious effort work it out between themselves instead of using the courts to bludgeon each other. Make no mistake, companies sue each other as much to slow down a competitor, as to win any important legal points.
Ok, I'm as fed up with these patent suits as the next person (especially the non-productive companies such as patent trolls who do nothing but use the legal system to attempt extortion rather than build and defend their own products), but what business is it of the Judge to decide what patent a person/entity may or may not attempt to sue against?
Patents are there for a reason. If you believe that your validly issued patent is being abused you do have a right to test that proposition in court. Denying that right is to deny access to the justice system, and I thought that itself would be unconstitutional?
Patents are there for a reason. If you believe that your validly issued patent is being abused you do have a right to test that proposition in court. Denying that right is to deny access to the justice system, and I thought that itself would be unconstitutional?
The way I see it is they are all at it, not just Google and Apple. The lawyers are making huge amounts of money and are not going to suddenly stop unless the system is changed. The patents office is also at fault for often allowing the most ridiculously broad ideas to be patented which is just adding fuel to the litigation fire.
It isn't a ruling, it's a court order. He is giving the litigants four months to bring him a case he can try. Nothing unusual here.
I think the order absolutely recognizes that. That's his point. He's sick of it, at least in this situation.
And judges are those that alter the court system.
I have to agree 100%. Both sides think that they are right and that the other side infringed. That's why the case has gone to court. Does anyone honestly expect either Apple or Google to give up their claims ?
This is not a wise judge but a lazy judge.
The post says the legal dispute started from Motorola Mobility which has/had a big plant in the Ft Lauderdale area. The US District court for this area is in Miami. So it's perfectly appropriate for this court to hear this case.
Laws don't sue people - people sue people.
...and similar aphorisms that fail to accept that there are two sides to every story. Patent law and the way patents are being abused is a chicken-and-egg situation - its the potential for abuse that makes large companies swamp the system with daft patent applications.
The good news is that, maybe, judges are starting to get the hint that patents are being abused as a business strategy. Maybe next they'll start wondering how and why this is happening. ISTR it was also judges who set the precedents that patents should apply to software, business practices etc.
This quote had the opposite effect on me,
It showed me that he was very passionate, and I like that in a leader. I didn't feel that it was in any way a tantrum. He spent years designing and building something that was his baby, and felt the need to protect it.
I take the "thermonuclear" quote with a grain of salt. I don't doubt Jobs said that or something similar. However, I don't doubt the writer and editors of the biography has every intention to include this quote to spice things up for publicity and may not have given us the whole context and conversation in which it was said.
It's not a matter of innovation vs litigation.
It's a matter of stealing someone's hard work.
Try making a Mikey Mouse film and see when Disney comes after you.
Wrong. This judge refuses to mention samesung and others who are also at war with Apple and google.
And this judge should know the law. If you do not actively defend a patent, you lose the rights to that patent. So Apple/google are only doing what the law requires of them.
Well judge Scola, you're part of the judicial branch, not the executive branch so just deal with it. Apple & Google are merely exercising their due process under the law and the legislatures dictate the law. Do your job and rule already.
Thank you, well said.