Patent Trolls Target Small East Texas Companies

An anonymous reader writes "In a sign that patent trolls are getting desperate to keep their cases in East Texas — long known as the friendliest venue for their claims — some have taken to suing tiny, no-name companies that are run by East Texas residents. The hope is that, if at least one defendant is located in East Texas, the judge will keep the entire case there. Nate Neel, a Longview, Texas resident with a small open source software company called CitiWare, was sued by Bedrock Computer Technologies in June despite (he claims) having no customers or other meaningful operations of any kind. In response, Mr. Neel has posted a strongly worded letter to Bedrock's attorneys on his Web site. It will be interesting to see how East Texas judges respond to this abuse of process perpetrated against their own residents."

Amazing patent

[paulhar]

Having just read the patent claims it seems that this patent is on the ability for a linked list to be cleared of expired items. Truly a ground breaking, patent worthy invention!

Re:Strongly worded letter?

[lordofthechia]

Ah yes, the law of averages:

http://plif.courageunfettered.com/archive/wc210.gif [courageunfettered.com]

Re:Strongly worded letter?

[ari_j]

The other part of the story is that his letter is going to end up in front of the federal judge. He might be entitled to sanctions to compensate him for the wasted time and expense in responding to a lawsuit that was brought against him with no basis in reality, but federal judges tend to disdain juvenile responses to serious matters. Like many things in life, there is a right way and a wrong way to respond to a ridiculous lawsuit - this guy chose the wrong way and it will most likely end up costing him.

turn it around...

[nycguy]

Should the FSF open an office in East Texas and launch lawsuits for violating the GPL from there?

Re:Interesting defense

[houstonbofh]

They are suing him and others. But he is the only one it the courts venue... What they get from suing him is securing a friendly venue. But in Texas, judges are positions voted on. Piss off the residents, and look for a new job.

Re:Interesting defense

[budgenator]

They are suing him and others. But he is the only one it the courts venue... What they get from suing him is securing a friendly venue. But in Texas, judges are positions voted on. Piss off the residents, and look for a new job.

Federal Judges are appointed for life, and can acquire Secret Service protection without too much difficulty.

East Texas troll friendliness is well known

[erroneus]

I was reading about how Bilski is threatening software patents and how some sides are saying "It ain't over yet!" and are interpreting the interest taken by the supreme court as intent to overturn the Bilski decision. On the other hand, at least one supreme court justice is well aware of the questionable nature of the East Texas court and has expressed dislike for it. From that I can see that perhaps the SCOTUS would like to finally reign in the lower courts and the abuse that is propagated by the East Texas court.

I believe the Bilski decision represents a restoration of sanity to patent law and process as I am sure that others here will agree. When it comes to technology, interoperability and compatibility are absolutely critical to growth and development of new technology as increasingly one thing builds on another very rapidly. To patent software literally and directly imposes roadblocks, or more exactly, private toll blocks on technological progress. One could even argue that without reigning in such practices, the U.S. will be giving up its position of technological superiority because of such abusive greed.

Re:And what Bedrock is doing *IS* professional??

[Anonymous Coward]

No, that one's a crook too, but when there's a metaphorical gun to your head, you'll pay just about anyone to make the situation go away. If the nation's laws weren't so twisted and byzantine, people could realistically self-represent in court.

Nate Neel

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi All,
Yes it's me, Nate Neel.
Sorry for the grammatical errors, those will be fixed soon. I uploaded this from a cell phone to my website in haste.

As far as professionalism goes - WHY! I do not have a company, I have no customers and I have not used any code from someone else - period!

I get a lawsuit because I live in East Texas and at one point tried to start a tech company!

Sorry to all the grammar Nazis and professional experts - I'm just a dude with a job supporting my family! I still have the freedom of speech and ability to express how I feel about an attack on me anyway I see fit.

I've done nothing wrong and I'm still being sued. See how you feel when you get a lawsuit sent to your house that has nothing to do with any facts or truths - You might get a bit upset!