Apple faces patent suits over iTunes Store, Safari, Mac OS X | Hacker News Reader

Apple faces patent suits over iTunes Store, Safari, Mac OS X

arstechnica.com

6 pointstca7 comments

Why did the headline single out just Apple? The article text mentions that much of rest of the tech industry is being targeted (that is, named as co-defendants) by this case, and the same outfit has a sister case filed against retailers.

I hate patents. I hate patent trolls even more.

once again, filed in the Eastern District of Texas

So? EDT isn't particularly favorable to plaintiffs. That's just a dumb internet myth.

EDT is picked by plaintiffs because (1) there's not much crime in EDT, and (2) because it has handled many patent suits in the past, it has many judges familiar with patent litigation (patent litigation is complex, and if you don't have a judge familiar with it, it will be very painful and slow for all parties involved).

The lack of crime in EDT is important because criminal cases get priority. If you try a patent suit (or any kind of civil suit) in a district that is flooded with criminal cases, your case drags on forever waiting for court time.

The other reason it is done in EDT is that you get to have a jury trial, basically you can get layman off the street and argue it in front of them rather than have to follow the letter of the law.

This makes it who can argue the best. Whereas in Delaware where most suits are filed for big companies the judge with a lot of knowledge and business law experience handles the case and thus the letter of the law is followed which means you get an extremely fair trial.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/business/24ward.html?_r=1 -"patent holders win 78 percent of the time, compared with an average of 59 percent nationwide"

I wonder if the stats still hold in 2010, but in 2006 it sure seems not to be a myth.

Top five are Northern District of Texas, Middle District of Florida, District of Nevada, District of Delaware, and District of Oregon.

http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2010/05/patent-litigation-fo...

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