So Small a Town, So Many Patent Suits

Speed kills. The adage applies these days to more than motor cars. In "So Small a Town, So Many Patent Suits" the NY Times  provides an intriguing look at the town of Marshall, Texas, known among patent aficionados as the "rocket docket".

SPEED is not the only feature bringing patent holders to Marshall. So, too, is the fact that they usually win. Three-fourths of the cases that come to trial in Marshall are decided in favor of the plaintiffs, compared with less than half in New York. The success rate for patent holders in Marshall is a great incentive for defendants to settle matters quickly and privately.

When it comes to the Blackboard case it's worth a reminder that:

• Patent cases in the US are decided less on the merits and more on the idiosyncrasies of the patent legal system. On the one hand, we have an overworked and dysfunctional (due mostly to outdated patent laws which are skewed in favor of incumbents and patent trolls) US Patent Office that slips through ridiculous patents and, on the other hand, jurisdictions such as East Texas which exploit flaws in the US intellectual property system as a gold mine opportunity for local business development.
• Desire2Learn faces an uphill  battle as it simultaneously takes on a financial goliath in Blackboard Inc. and a US legal system which overwhelmingly favors the plaintiff, irrespective of the technical merits of the case.