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16 November 2015Patents

WIPR survey: Eastern District of Texas lawsuits should be limited, say readers

The number of patent lawsuits handled by the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas should be limited, WIPR readers have said.

Responding to our most recent survey, 60% of respondents said there should be a limit on the number of cases filed at the highly popular court.

Our question, which asked if there should be a reduction in lawsuits at the court, came in light of an amicus brief filed by rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation which said the court had become clogged with patent lawsuits.

The EFF said an “absurd” situation of “forum selling” had been created in the US whereby patent owners can choose the district court they wish to sue in.

The brief, filed on October 29 alongside non-profit organisation Public Knowledge, was related to the TC Heartland dispute, which concerns changing the venue for patent lawsuits.

Indiana-based TC Heartland, which creates water enhancers, was sued by Kraft Foods for allegedly infringing three of its patents.

Kraft sued TC Heartland at the US District Court for the District of Delaware, but TC Heartland unsuccessfully asked the judge to transfer the case to the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.

TC Heartland appealed against the decision to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which is now hearing the dispute.

The EFF said that, according to Congress, patent law says that cases can be brought only “in the judicial district where the defendant resides” or where the defendant has committed infringement and has a “regular place of business”.

But the EFF, in a press release calling on the federal circuit to “shut down” the Texas court, claimed that the law on patent venue has been weakened over the years, resulting in a surge of cases being heard at the court.

According to legal analytics company Lex Machina, the Texas court handles nearly a quarter of US patent cases.

For this week’s survey we ask: “Last week we reported that photographer David Slater had filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by PETA which claimed that a monkey should own the copyright to a photograph of itself that it accidentally took. Should an animal be able to claim copyright ownership?”

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More on this story

Patents
3 November 2015   The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has asked a US appeals court to change the rules surrounding where patent cases can be filed in a bid to limit the number of lawsuits being filed at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Patents
29 April 2016   The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has rejected a request that would have placed restrictions on where patent lawsuits can be filed.
Patents
15 December 2016   The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal concerning restrictions on where patent claims can be filed.