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from the I-prefer-online-venue-shopping dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
The legal case of TC Heartland v Kraft Foods may appear to have very little to do with technology, but it could make life a lot harder for patent trolls – thanks to a US Supreme Court decision on Thursday.
The case between the two was brought by Kraft over its Mio Water Enhancer, a mixture of salt and flavorings for those who find regular water too dull. TC Heartland makes a similar product and Kraft contended that some of its intellectual property has been used to make the rival product.
Kraft wanted the case heard in Delaware, a state which has little to do with either company but is a notoriously patent-friendly venue. TC Heartland wants the venue to be in its home state, and has appealed an earlier ruling on the matter.
On Wednesday the Supremes granted certiorari [PDF] to the case, meaning it is on the schedule to be considered. If they rule in TC Heartland's favor, it will eliminate the practice of venue shopping, where companies bring cases in districts where some judges are more favorable and they think they have a better chance of winning.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 22 2016, @06:46PM
This just means that lots of one-room offices get opened up in Delaware, East Texas, etc. and become a sufficient presence to meet whatever minimum requirements for establishing that place as your home venue.
(Score: 3, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Thursday December 22 2016, @07:07PM
This just means that lots of one-room offices get opened up in Delaware
Yes, precisely this. Heck, the Delaware state government even has a helpful pamphlet [delaware.gov] on "Why Corporations Choose Delaware"! Even if a business does most of its dealings elsewhere, many corporations choose Delaware as a place to officially incorporate or do other particular legal things, because of its notoriously lax corporate legal code and lax tax regulations on corporations that operate mostly outside the state. (Well, technically, Delaware has a much more well-developed legal code on corporations than most other states, since there's so much litigation that goes on there, but overall there's a lot of court precedent that automatically favors corporations, rather than other states, where you might depend more on the whims of juries or whatever.)
Most people don't realize this, but more than 50% of publicly-traded corporations [delaware.gov] and 64% of the Fortune 500 have Delaware as their "legal home." Contrary to the summary's assertion that Delaware "has little to do with either company," Kraft *IS* incorporated in Delaware, and prior to modern case law on venue, the state of incorporation for either the plaintiff or defendant generally was the default place for litigation... usually the defendant's home.
This is NOT to argue for Kraft's forum-shopping here -- just noting why Delaware DOES end up as a forum for a lot of these cases.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 23 2016, @05:09AM
It's not necessarily a bad thing that Delaware courts ends up hear a large fraction of corporate lawsuits, unless it can be shown that they are one-sided in their rulings the way east Texas court is on patents. The Delaware judges are more likely to be familiar with relevant case law and to ask better questions of the respective attorneys.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Thursday December 22 2016, @07:18PM
That would be a step in the right direction though, at least that way they're having to be located there.
What pisses me off is companies like Microsoft that claim Washington when it comes to law suits, but illegal evade taxes by issuing all their licenses via Nevada where the corporate taxes are lower. If they want to use our infrastructure and our courts, they should have to pay taxes here. Otherwise, they can bugger off.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 22 2016, @09:18PM
Don't forget those companies are also Irish companies when it suits them.