I agree with clavelle's comment. It's not so much the laws, but the system that allows this to occur.
Link here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/4n08jj/developer_i...
Isn't this a blatant conflict of interest? If this isn't grounds for disbarment, what is?
(i.e the Judges Son tries a case with a different Judge in town, but that Judge is buddies with the other Judges.)
So there's no allegation that Judge Davis (now retired) actually presided over any of his son's cases, merely that his son stood to benefit from the overall patent-troll friendly climate of the Eastern District court. Not really a clear-cut recusal situation. If anything, the fact that his son's firm represents trolls and victims alike meant there was less reason for a specific bias on behalf of the judge.
One of those 3 letter federal agencies, that government spends $billions on, needs to look at this "not really clear cut situation".
The bit about "specific bias" is interesting. I wouldn't assume that the judge is biased for or against patent trolls, but his position gives him reason to be biased for patent trolling, which isn't quite the same. It would be to the advantage of his son to make a big deal out of cases which don't deserve it. Accepting cases about ridiculous patents would do that, as would encouraging trials for patent cases which are obviously legitimate.
Whether that's happening or not I have no idea, but he clearly has an incentive to keep things stirred up in this area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_disqualification#Appl...
The situation is that with patent suits able to be brought anywhere and brought in East Texas by preference, a significant amount of that areas economy is now based on this racket and so the culture of the area is very oriented towards enable patent trolls, especially given a general contempt of outsiders characteristic of a small town.
In the pre-Internet era, one needed to take an unlucky to get murdered or shaken down by the corrupt culture of Smokey And The Bandit style US small towns. The ambiguity of the law and the convenience of entrenched interests now means that
It's been going on for a long time. Recent article: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/How-east-Tex...
2006 article: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/business/24ward.html?pagew...
Choice quote: "'During the TiVo-EchoStar trial, 90 percent of my revenue for one month came from one of the law firms in the case,' said Phillip W. Gurganus, manager of the local 68-room Hampton Inn, where rates run $77 a night." Guess what he'd chose if got on a jury? Certainly a decision that kept business in East Texas.
How is this not legally considered a conflict of interest in cases where the judge had relation to one side of the case? I don't know much about the law system but I would assume their are provisions in place to prevent these types of conflicts.
It's enough to just point out what the article/video says, like your second sentence does.