Patent Trolls

From the all-trolling-all-the-time-act dept

It is hard not to believe that the term ‘patent troll’ may have passed its useful life in the vernacular and is on its way to retirement.

Sometimes it helps to take a long-term approach.

Are the days of patent trolls numbered?

* The ABA has placed Arizona Summit Law School on probation for its poor bar exam passage rates and questionable admissions practices. How will this affect the school’s affiliation with Bethune-Cookman University? Will the Department of Education strip the law school of access to the federal student loan program like what happened with Charlotte School of Law? We’ll have more on this later today. [Arizona Republic]

* More Democratic senators have announced their opposition to the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch of the Tenth Circuit, but the White House is calling for a “fair, up-or-down vote.” Hmm, when the previous administration called for a hearing followed by a “fair, up-or-down vote” for Supreme Court nominee Judge Merrick Garland of the D.C. Circuit, the request went completely ignored. [Reuters]

* The Eastern District of Texas is home to more than 40 percent of all patent lawsuits, but the Supreme Court may decide to send patent trolls packing to other jurisdictions when it hands down its ruling in TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods. This case may not only resolve a Federal Circuit decision that’s at odds with SCOTUS precedent, but it may bring forum shopping in patent cases to an end. [DealBook / New York Times]

* As we mentioned previously, it was rumored that President Donald Trump would be nominating White House deputy counsel Makan Delrahim to lead the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. It looks like Trump finally decided to pull the trigger to elevate Delrahim to the position. He’ll need to be confirmed by the Senate, which should be a relative breeze for him compared to other Trump nominees. [Law 360 (sub. req.)]

* Eric Conn, a Social Security disability lawyer known as “Mr. Social Security,” recently pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government money and one count of payment of gratuities in the largest Social Security fraud scheme in recent memory, submitting false medical paperwork and fake claims to the Social Security Administration to the tune of $550M. He earned himself more than $5.7M in fees as part of the scam. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Donald Trump is launching a “major investigation” into voter fraud because the rest of us pointed out that his popular vote claims were pure bull hockey. This is fantastic. We’ve known that voter fraud really isn’t a thing for years but now there’ll be proof. [CNN]

* A deeper dive into the Dentons conflict check snafu. [Litigation Daily]

* The original patent troll firm is no more. [Ars Technica]

* Sergey Aleynikov’s conviction reinstated. “The decision is a ‘big victory’ for Vance and helps to enhance his reputation as a ‘no-nonsense’ prosecutor who will aggressively prosecute financial fraud.” Wasting years pursuing a conviction the federal courts threw out just to appease Goldman Sachs donors in their private vendetta… sure that’s the kind of financial fraud everyone’s looking to see aggressively prosecuted. [Bloomberg]

* Deutsche out $110 million. [Law360]

* Hughes Hubbard files trademark application for Trump’s reelection slogan “Keep America Great.” Which he stole from The Purge, if you’re wondering what’s next on his agenda. [The Am Law Daily]

* Oh. And we have our first martial law sighting! [Salon]

Welcome news could be coming.

What is life like as an IP litigator?

Patent litigators: no matter whom you represent or what you are doing on that client’s behalf, expect vocal criticism of your actions from some quarter.

* Hank Greenberg won his lawsuit against the government for illegally seizing insurance giant A.I.G. as part of a bailout. But the court awarded no damages, finding that shareholders weren’t harmed by the takeover. So, to translate this, the court basically said to Greenberg, “You were so bad at running your business that a cabal of bureaucrats acting illegally did better for shareholders than you.” That’s… gotta sting. [New York Times]

* Lost in the excitement of today’s Baker Botts decision was the Supreme Court declining to save North Carolina’s struck-down abortion law that would have required doctors to bend over backwards to dissuade women from getting an abortion. Over the dissent of Justice Scalia, the Court killed the law without giving it a chance. [Jezebel]

* If you’re going to Richmond, California, make sure you’ve left your Ultimate Nullifier at home. [Lowering the Bar]

* Something finally goes wrong for wealthy people moving into Brooklyn. SPOILER: it’s other wealthy people moving into Brooklyn. [Brownstoner]

* Justice Ginsburg tells the crowd at the annual ACS Convention that Natalie Portman held up the upcoming RBG biopic, On the Basis of Sex, demanding that the film have a female director. Men’s rights activists can take heart that a man will be directing the inevitable porn version. [The Week]

* Alan Dershowitz worries that the Zivotofsky decision gives the White House too much power over foreign policy as opposed to some myopic former water commissioner awash in lobbyist money from AIPAC and apocalyptic-minded Evangelicals Congress. [The Blaze]

* Do you hate patent trolls? Good. Consider supporting this feature comedy film trolling patent trolls. [Indiegogo]

* If you’re in D.C. Thursday morning, come hear our own David Lat discuss the future of the Roberts Court with some other people who are nowhere near as important. Like congresspeople and former federal judges and such. [Politico]

* More whining about President Obama opining on Supreme Court cases while the justices “deliberate” — as though anyone’s opinion is up in the air. Apparently presidents have rarely done this. Fun fact: cynical lawyers have rarely gotten to the Supreme Court to attack a president’s landmark legislation on a tortured textual reading, but here we are. [The Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post]

* It’s like the Hangover. Except in prison. With more drugs. [Legal Juice]

* Hey, remember when Jeb Bush got behind a law that required rape victims to publish their sexual histories in the newspaper until the law was shot down by the courts two years later? Good times. [Salon]

* The Right proclaims Jeb Bush really doesn’t believe in publicly shaming women for having sex. Hm. See item 3 supra. [Legal Insurrection]

* Wow. The Senate actually passed something. It’s a resolution hailing the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. Is it a sign of my cynicism that I’m shocked even that got approved? [Constitutional Accountability Center]

* Why the rationale of Roe doesn’t really matter. [Lawyers, Guns & Money]

* Fourth Circuit panel snipes at each other over whether to call out overzealous prosecutors. It got so bad they actually sealed the opinion. [Maryland Appellate Blog]

* Derek Khanna has a new report on patent reform written with Lincoln Labs. The fundamental premise: patents are not encouraging innovation any more. [Lincoln Labs]

* Watchdog is reporting that Kroll Associates conveniently overlooked dozens of terrible LSAT scores in its report on University of Texas admission standards. It bears repeating: just how dumb must Abigail Fisher be to not get into this school? [Watchdog]

* A short memoir about suing The Grateful Dead. [The Faculty Lounge]

Is "legal innovation" an oxymoron? Absolutely not, as some new crowdfunding projects demonstrate.

* Lance Armstrong is feuding, again, with former teammate Floyd Landis — this time over discovery [National Law Journal]

* Remember July 2014 when we all learned that ExamSoft — the bar examination software — totally crapped out on test takers? Yeah, they just reached a $2.1 million settlement.  #NeverForgetBarghazi [Law360]

* Rejoice haters of measles and other preventable diseases! California is moving to end “personal belief exemptions” for mandatory vaccines. [NPR]

* In oral arguments for an appeal of the conviction of Jesse Litvak, a bond trader convicted of securities fraud involving government bailout funds, the Second Circuit was skeptical over the fairness of the trial. [New York Law Journal]

* The FDA finally arrives in the year 2015; plans to ease restrictions on gay blood donors. [Jurist]

*  Senate Judiciary Committee recommends prosecutor Robert Capers the next U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, filling Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s vacancy. [Wall Street Journal]

* An analysis of who the winners will be under Google’s new plan to buy up patents before the trolls. [JD Supra]

What kind of shenanigans do you have to be up to for every single member of your in-house legal department and outside law firm to be disqualified from a case?

Hilarious and biting takedown.

How can you fight back against so-called "patent trolls"?

* Justice Sotomayor would like to remind you that just because you’ve been to one Indian casino, that doesn’t mean all Native Americans are fantastically wealthy. [KGOU] * Nor is every Native American cured by this news, but this is certainly a start — the Department of the Interior will sign a $554 million settlement in the breach of trust case brought by the Navajo nation. [Buckley Sandler LLP] * A Peruvian woman has sued Disney for $250 million because she alleges that Frozen is a rip-off of her life story. Because she has magic ice powers? I guess. Actually, it looks like the only connection is that she lived in a cold place and had a sister. This reminds me of my lawsuit against Chuck Palahniuk for basing Fight Club on my life story. Not that I ran anarchic underground fight clubs, but because one-time at camp I made a bar of soap. [Bustle] * Law professor goes after revenge porn and patent trolls because he’s trying to win the title of best person ever. [Brooklyn Paper] * Harold Hamm, Continental Resources’ Chairman and CEO — and former energy adviser to Mitt Romney — is staring down the barrel of a massive divorce settlement. So he takes a page from Romney’s adversary. Hamm is arguing that his fortune… he didn’t build that! He was just the beneficiary of a good market rather than a contributing factor so he doesn’t have to share. [Upstream Online] * The CAC launches a new series on the Roberts Court at 10. It’s hard to believe how long ago that was. When the Chief Justice took over we still thought the ending of Lost was going to make sense! [Constitutional Accountability Center] * Winston & Strawn lawyer turned famous LEGO artist Nathan Sawaya opened a new show in London. Sculptures made of thousands and thousands of hand-assembled bricks. Just in case you were wondering if there was a task more boring than document review. [Yahoo! Canada News] * Paul Clement and Mike Carvin offer a SCOTUS preview. [Heritage Foundation]

Following the Supreme Court's recent guidance in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, several software patents have been invalidated by the Federal Circuit, and district courts. In Alice Corp., the court set out a two prong validity test. First, whether the subject matter is eligible for a patent; and second, if so, whether the recitation of generic computer components adds something that is not already present when the steps are considered separately? For software patent applicants, Alice Corp. now requires that the method or system 1) improve the functioning of the computer itself, and do more than instruct one to apply the abstract idea on an unspecified generic computer; or 2) effect an improvement in another technology or field.

* Anna Nicole Smith’s estate finally loses its effort to secure a piece of her late husband’s estate. This whole thing was like Bleak House with boobs. [Jezebel] * Supreme Court halts same-sex marriage in Virginia. So there you go. [ABC News] * Our old friend the Affluenza kid is back in the news, but this time he’s only a footnote to the story. His father, the one who spoiled him so badly he couldn’t help himself but kill a bunch of people, has been arrested for impersonating a cop. Maybe affluenza is contagious. * The preliminary draft of the proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Appellate, Bankruptcy, Civil, and Criminal Procedure are available for public comment! So what are you still doing here? [U.S. Courts] * Lawyer posts a bounty available to anyone who can help him collect on the multi-million dollar judgments he’s secured against a pilfering billionaire. “I’ve spent enough money getting judgments.” Enter Dog the Judgement Bounty Hunter. Go with Christ, Brah.[Forbes] * Adam Carolla has settled with the patent troll who was suing him claiming they invented the podcast. Details weren’t disclosed, but since Carolla had previously said he wouldn’t settle for any amount of money, I wonder how they sweetened the pot. [USAToday] * Suspended Notre Dame athletes reportedly considering a lawsuit against journalists who named them as suspects in a cheating scandal. Even though the school itself named them. If the classes they supposedly took were “Pre-Law” or “Basics of Defamation,” then I think the NCAA has a slam dunk case. [FoxSports] * The extracurriculars that help you get into law school. Debate’s still on there even if the description — at least of the form of debate most Americans practice — sounds more like what a high school drama thinks of debate instead of reality. Less extemporaneous speaking and more “massive, in-depth research and a developing a mastery of electronic research databases.” [InGenius Prep] * The lingering lawsuit over one of the most devastating hockey hits in recent memory has finally settled. The parties agreed to 5 minutes for fighting and a game misconduct. [ESPN]

* A murder suspect grabbed his phone and asked Siri to help him dispose of a dead body. I’ll bet Siri gave him s**tty directions on doing that, too. [USA Today] * Criminal defeated by the same dastardly device that plagued a famous Far Side cartoon. [Lowering the Bar] * Congratulations to Brooklyn Law School’s BLIP clinic for successfully fighting off a patent troll. How’s that for practical law school experience! [Medium] * “As long as there is demonstrated interest and commitment by sufficiently financed local owners and a dedicated, passionate local fan base, leagues prefer not to move teams.” So says Buffalo Law professor Nellie Drew. Shhh. Don’t tell her about where the Baltimore Ravens came from, it would break her heart. [University of Buffalo] * We get more worked up about law students charged with crimes. Like murder and arson. I mean, obviously Above the Law does because that’s part of our beat, but I mean “we” as in everybody. Why is that? [Law and More] * Avvo just released a new iPhone app for lawyers. Among the new features is an opportunity to be alerted as soon as a question in your practice area is asked. [Avvo] * Ha. This cartoon. [Twitter] * After a two-year absence, we welcome VC Deal Lawyer back to blogging! [VC Deal Lawyer]