Assignment #12: Eastern Texas Cities in Patent Litigation

So for this post, I will be analyzing an article related to a topic well discussed in Monday’s class: The role of Eastern Texas in patent litigation.  Below is a link to the article.

http://www.chron.com/business/technology/article/Apple-sued-84-times-in-Texas-patent-courts-in-6-ye-6145522.php#photo-7681181

Dylan Baddour, the author of the article, begins by stating that Apple has both won and lost patent cases over the years, but six of their cases took place in the Eastern Texas cities such as Marshall and Tyler.  Historically, the towns have been seen as uneducated would therefore not fully understand the terms discussed in the cases.  Juries as well as judges have been criticized for being overly sympathetic to patent trolls and opposed by large corporations such as Apple or Samsung.  However, the pro-plaintiff sentiment from an uneducated jury is not the only reasoning for patent litigation being brought to the Lone Star State.

Michael Smith, an IP lawyer for many years, claims that patent cases are just easier to hold in the small cities of Texas. In a previous case he worked on with Texas Instruments,  he filed a case in Dallas only to being delayed and delayed due to the high criminal rate of the metropolitan town.  Marshall on the other hand, is not home to a prison nor a US attorney’s office.  With few criminal cases taking precedence over patent suits, cases were able to be heard much quicker and therefore at a cheaper cost.  After a successful first case, TI then ran its whole portfolio through Marshall courts. 

With more and more patent suits being filed in Marshall, the town court became one of the first members of the patent pilot program.  And with it, more and more cases found their way to Marshall and the town court became more and more experienced in patent law and litigation.  With more and more cases being brought to Marshall courts, the city began to reap the economic benefits with it.  More cases meant more lawyers in the town, who then spent money in bars, restaurants, and hotels.  Soon, major law firms decided to build large offices in the city and create jobs and boost city tax revenue.  So even though Marshall may be thought of as a plaintiff-pity town, the economic benefits brought into the market are more than enough to make up for it.

Thanks!