Eastern District Of Texas Preferred Venue for IP Lawsuit Plaintiffs
The Dallas Morning News: East Texas is no stranger to intellectual property lawsuits, and a recent article by Eric Torbenson features the work of highly specialized IP businesses in the Eastern District of Texas that are capitalizing on the legal leanings of the court. Torbenson's Dallas firms specialize in tricky, lucrative terrain of patent law gives more details of what has become known as the "rocket docket":
The Eastern District, which includes Collin County and much of eastern Texas, has won a reputation as extremely plaintiff-friendly and a preferred venue to get patent claims through quickly.
Just getting a case into the Eastern District – known by some as the "rocket docket" because its comparative lack of criminal cases lets judges move civil patent cases swiftly – has prompted some companies to settle quickly.
Nguyen says the district's reputation as friendly to patent plaintiffs is widespread; whenever it's mentioned at law conferences around the country, she hears the same reaction.
"There's always chuckling," she said. "They might just be laughing at Texas, but the district's reputation isn't deserved."
Other court watchers agree that the district's plaintiff-friendly reputation may be overdone.
Methinks the "other court watchers" protest too much! After all, many companies who are bringing lawsuits for IP-related charges chose the Eastern District of Texas based on cold hard facts and not just some tall tale. There is, of course, a down side to this story: the "potential for riches has spawned a wave of patent trolls – firms or individuals who buy patents with the idea of suing companies for infringement and making them settle. The success of such suits has spurred tort reform advocates who want to make it harder for such cases to get filed." And maybe there's something to it, making it more difficult for non-practicing entities to file patent infringement suits. Or?
MySinchew.com: China's increasingly strict government procurement policy has the potential to cause a large rift to grow between the country's engineering community and the global community at large with intellectual property is playing a divisive roll. Veronica Smith at the AFP reports on this issue of growing concern to trade partners with China:
The United States' economic relations with China are headed into the rocks, with Beijing's new government procurement policy delivering a major blow, US experts said Friday.
"I think we're going to see the bilateral economic relations with the Chinese deteriorate over the next year or so," said Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council.
The increasingly strained relations with China were mostly Beijing's fault because the Chinese authorities have backed away from a market-oriented direction and resorted to more subsidies and investment restrictions, Reinsch said.
"We're going to head into a period of both sides testing the other," he said at a roundtable discussion hosted by the Washington-based business association.
Reinsch also foresees a sea-change in investment dollars as a direct result of China's policy that "requires that eligibility for Chinese government procurement is based on whether the products contain intellectual property that is developed and owned in China." Reinsch adds, "Over five years you're going to see more and more investment going to India, Brazil and other places and not in China because people are just getting frustrated and tired and want to be someplace where there's rule of law," and not a Draconian policy that locks out all foreign interest. Read Smith's China's procurement policy deepens strains: US experts for the rest of the story.
NaplesNews.com: Failure to comply with a non-compete agreement has caused an ex-employee of Naples, Florida-based Rib City Grill to be on the receiving end of a trademark infringement suit. Aisling Swift's Long Island restaurant closing after trademark suit by Southwest Florida chain informs the gentle reader, first, by way of a backgrounder:
When Frank Ryan was asked to leave Rib City Grill in East Naples in 2007, the general manager signed an agreement not to compete or use the restaurant’s trade secrets, recipes, or food preparation techniques for 10 years.
So managers of the Fort Myers-based restaurant, which has franchises in seven other states, were surprised when they received an e-mail about its Long Island, N.Y., restaurant: They had no restaurant there.
It turned out it was Ryan’s restaurant, Rib City Ale House in Port Jefferson Station.
So Rib City Group’s attorney sent Ryan a cease-and-desist letter, telling him “Rib City,” its layout, smiling pig, menus, recipes, food preparation techniques, Internet name, and other material was trademark-protected.
Ryan, a long-time food industry veteran, did little to make his case that he is not stealing copyrighted materials and the good will of Naple's Rib City Grill. "The lawsuit says Ryan incorporated his business about a year after signing the non-compete agreement, then launched a Web site using many Rib City trademarks, including its smiling pig, silhouette of a city skyline at night, and menu with some of the same items and identical or nearly identical descriptions." He adds this little quip to the mix: "I never thought anyone could have a copyright on Rib City," Ryan said. "Who are they to have the right to Rib City everything? All I can say to everybody is, 'Geez. I'm sorry.'" "Geez, I'm sorry?" For reals? And not knowing that a name can be protected by copyright law? Something's rotten in Long Island, NY, and it's not Danish cheese.
PatentDocs.org: The American Bar Association (ABA) is preparing for an exciting intellectual property event in Alexandria, Virginia come April 7-10th, 2010. From a related news release, we gather the details of what's going to be the focus of the 25th Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference.
• Patent reform legislation -- Where we are, how did we get here, and what does the future hold in store?
• The year in patent law;
• Hot topics in foreign patent procurement and enforcement;
• Biosimilars 2010;
• Best practices for selecting, retaining and working with experts in patent cases;
• Litigating validity: Obviousness and collateral challenges;
• Insurance challenges: What every intellectual property lawyer should know about legal malpractice insurance, litigation, sanctions, and ethical violations;
• The use of opinion of counsel as evidence in patent litigation;
• Navigating inter partes reexamination;
• Patent and trademark prosecution ethics -- Shifting sands or new directions?
• Patent licensing for standards: How the deal is done;
• Anatomy of an infringement claim: Analyzing and responding to a letter asserting trademark or patent infringement;
• Patent practice perspectives: Addressing client and subject matter conflicts;
• Mock preliminary injunction hearing; and
• Strategic forum selection in patent litigation.
The cost of admission varies based on a number of different factors and there is a $50 discount for completing registration to attend the event before March 23, 2010. Be sure to check out the ABA website for more information on this long-time, IP favorite event.
Criminal Law Library Blog: Munich, Germany is not just home to the world-famous Hofbrauhaus beer garden, it's also going to play host to the Annual Business Congress for Global Intellectual Property Leaders - 2010. "The third annual IP Business Congress (IPBC) is taking place at the Bayerischer Hof Hotel, Munich's premium five-star hotel, between 20th and 22nd June 2010. The super early-bird discount price for the IPBC expires this Friday 22nd January. If you register by the end of Friday, the registration fee is reduced from €1,500 to just €995, risk free." How can you beat that? Here's a bit of horn-tooting that trumpets the event's obvious importance. "The IPBC is shaping up to be the networking opportunity for the movers and shakers in the IP world in 2010." Click through for full details.
Bonus IP piece o' the day:Patent Troll Sues Apple Over Wireless Messaging Technology by Robin Wauters at TechCrunch.com.
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