From arstechnica comes the following report.
A federal judge issued an order today decreeing that Google's court battle against a "patent troll" owned by its competitors must be fought out in California, not in Texas.
The ruling is a substantial victory for Google because venue matters a great deal in patent litigation. The search giant was facing the possibility of fighting a powerful trolling entity in the Eastern District of Texas, considered a district friendly to patent holders. The patent-holding company in this case is the Rockstar Consortium, which was formed when Apple, Microsoft, Sony, Ericsson, and Blackberry teamed up to spend $4.5 billion to buy the patents belonging to Nortel, a bankrupt Canadian telecom company.
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(Score: 2) by song-of-the-pogo on Friday April 18 2014, @03:49PM
Having developed a visceral dislike of East Texas due its well-earned reputation as a troller's haven, I will be watching with great interest to see what effect, if any, this change of venue will have.
"We have met the enemy and he is us."
(Score: 2) by Blackmoore on Friday April 18 2014, @03:56PM
I really hope to see some justice against patent trolls. (yes. this is noting more than a corporate owned patent troll vs. billion dollar company)
if only the supreme court would shoot down software patents.
(Score: 3) by song-of-the-pogo on Friday April 18 2014, @04:06PM
Barring that, I wouldn't entirely mind seeing them literally shoot patent trolls. I'm picturing the justices in their black robes, riding nine abreast into East Texas to "clean up this town".
While I'm hopeful that a change of venue and Google's deep pockets will see a better-than-usual outcome in this case, I'm pessimistically expecting the whole thing to be buried in a flurry of appeals and appeals-to-appeals. I'm also very disappointed in the behavior of the corporations comprising the Rockstar Consortium. Shame on you guys. I don't know why, but I expected better of you.
"We have met the enemy and he is us."
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Buck Feta on Friday April 18 2014, @04:01PM
My understanding is that those companies bought Nortel's patent portfolio as a defensive measure, not simply to extort other companies for cash. If you just don't like patents, then every patent holder is a troll I suppose, but I'm not convinced that this situation fits the definition of a "patent troll".
- fractious political commentary goes here -
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Blackmoore on Friday April 18 2014, @04:09PM
being a patent troll all depends on how you use it. Here you have a consortium using the patents to put Google into a bad place financially; but costing the "owners" nothing. they arent even asking a reasonable cost for the use to Google / thus the case.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Nerdfest on Friday April 18 2014, @05:51PM
Those companies promised that they wouldn't use those patents in a hostile manner, then proceeded to immediately sue Google. They then claimed that they didn't break their agreement because it was RockStar suing, not the controlling companies.
I'm somewhat proud to say that I was one of a small group of people who protested in front of their offices here in Canada. We organized a small group of "Troll Hunters" armed with foam swords and suction dart bows and arrows, and we warned people entering the building about the "trolls". We even had a CBC video crew show up. I was hoping it would be the first of many as there are many other trolls that should be picketed.
(Score: 2) by Angry Jesus on Friday April 18 2014, @07:05PM
> We organized a small group of "Troll Hunters" armed with foam swords and suction dart bows
> and arrows, and we warned people entering the building about the "trolls".
Troll Hunter [imdb.com] is really a lot of fun!
(Score: 4, Informative) by SuddenOutbreak on Friday April 18 2014, @05:03PM
It was particularly telling that the "Rockstar" corporation created a "Mobilstar" subsidiary out of thin air with no California connections and assigned the disputed patents to it the day before filing.
(Score: 1) by tnt118 on Friday April 18 2014, @07:20PM
I really hope this helps set a precedent that can get other upcoming cases moved out of Texas. I'm thinking first of the "Save Our Podcasts" and Adam Carolla, but there are many others as well.
I think I like it here.