# Why do patent trolls love east Texas? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-patent-trolls-love-east-texas/640534 "2012-11-09T23:46:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-patent-trolls-love-east-texas/640534/1 "2012-11-09T23:46:29Z")
What is it about East Texas that makes it the preferred venue (from the point of the plaintiff) for patent litigation? in particular, what makes it so hospitable for non-practicing entities? I know it’s because of some things Justice John Ward did in his tenure there, but have no idea what those things are, why they happened (and were allowed to continue), or how they made it so much easier for patent litigators to succeed there. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-patent-trolls-love-east-texas/640534/2 "2012-11-10T00:53:35Z")
Awhile back, but no too long ago, NPR (or one of the public radio program providers) did a program about this very thing. It has to do with the court system. They might have a podcast if you search for it. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-patent-trolls-love-east-texas/640534/3 "2012-11-10T01:18:57Z")
This article suggests that the Federal District Court in Marshall, Texas is popular for patent infringement lawsuits because of “a combination of quick trials and plaintiff-friendly juries, many lawyers say. Patent cases are heard faster in Marshall than in many other courts.” Basically, it’s a small city with a Federal court that’s not very busy. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-patent-trolls-love-east-texas/640534/4 "2012-11-10T01:54:56Z")
My immediate guess was pretty much what R.P. McMurphy and Dewey Finn confirmed: forum shopping. There’s a famous case about personal jurisdiction studied by every first year law student in civil procedure called _World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson_, 444 U.S. 286 (1980) that all got started over whether a court in Creek County, Oklahoma had jurisdiction to hear a certain lawsuit. Creek County was notorious among plaintiff’s lawyers as producing some of the most plaintiff sympathetic juries in the nation, so if there was any way to assert jurisdiction there they would file a case there. Similarly, if you’re asserting a patent infringement and you know that there’s a federal court with jurisdiction in east Texas with an unusually light docket and sympathetic jury pool, there’s a pretty good incentive to file your case there. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-patent-trolls-love-east-texas/640534/5 "2017-05-22T16:15:27Z")
[http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN18I1SZ](http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN18I1SZ) > [@](#): > > **Top court tightens patent suit rules in blow to ‘patent trolls’** > > The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday tightened rules for where patent lawsuits can be filed in a decision that may make it harder for so-called patent “trolls” to launch sometimes dodgy patent cases in friendly courts, a major irritant for high-tech giants like Apple and Alphabet Inc’s Google. > > The justices sided 8-0 with beverage flavoring company TC Heartland LLC in its legal battle with food and beverage company Kraft Heinz Co, ruling that patent infringement suits can be filed only in courts located in the jurisdiction where the targeted company is incorporated. Justice Neil Gorsuch did not participate in the decision. The article mentions EAST Texas and how the problem started and how this case might fix it. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-patent-trolls-love-east-texas/640534/6 "2017-05-22T16:21:39Z")
> [@R.P.McMurphy](#): > > Awhile back, but no too long ago, NPR (or one of the public radio program providers) did a program about this very thing. It has to do with the court system. They might have a podcast if you search for it. > **[When Patents Attack! - This American Life](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/441/when-patents-attack)** > > Why would a company rent an office in a tiny town in East Texas, put a nameplate on the door, and leave it completely empty for a year?