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Oracle Ordered to Reduce Claims Against Google From 132 to 3
- ComputerGuru 15y agoI thought groklaw was being discontinued?
- biot 15y agoMay 16th, Groklaw's anniversary.[0] Though apparently it may continue in some form? [1] [0] http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20110409161444432 http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20110409161444432 [1] http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20110414184224418 http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20110414184224418
- bruce511 15y agoFrom the court document; "Each side may file a five-page (double spaced, twelve-point Times New Roman font, no footnotes, and no attachments) critique..." Methinks the judge has played with lawyers before and seen first-hand their propensity to deliver amazonian briefs. The programmer in me however cannot help but notice that he omitted the size of paper they can use for each "page". Or maybe he assumes it's "legal" - by definition. <g> But I like an accurate spec I do. I wish that all my clients were this precise.
- corin_ 15y agoHow amazing would it be to see them deliver it on five A1 pages, just to see the look on the judge's face.
- chopsueyar 15y agoI'm sure the judge would be quite impressed.
- mfringel 15y agoIANAL, but such an action would likely be construed as contempt of court, especially given the exactness of what was requested.
- podperson 15y agoYes, piss off the judge by deliberately misconstruing rules. That's the ticket.
- Semiapies 15y agoThen he naturally defines "sheet" to be "3x5 card". :)
- zmmmmm 15y agoI'm not on Oracle's side in this case, but can someone explain how can a judge just toss out 98% of the claims in a patent case without any explanation other than (apparently) that it will take too long to try them all?
- chopsueyar 15y agoMaybe the judge realizes how much bullshit both parties' lawyers are full of?
- rms 15y agoJudges have a lot of authority, and he is right, after all.
- joe_the_user 15y agoYes, this might sound simplistic but it the answer. A judge really does have nearly absolute authority within his court (including the ability to sentence anyone in the court to jail time for contempt). If you walk into a court with a claim that's correct by the letter of the law but egregious in some other fashion, the judge can and will say "this is baloney, get the * out" and there will likely be nothing you can do about it.
- piotrSikora 15y agoExactly, especially since Oracle won't be able to use dropped claims in any case against Android in the future.
- protomyth 15y agoRulings can be appealed, so I wouldn't count on that. This is going to be a long road for both parties.
- othermaciej 15y agoI was wondering the same thing. Can a judge really order plaintiffs to permanently abandon claims just because they would be too complicated to try? He hasn't even decided which claims can continue, just says Oracle needs to pick 3. Another oddity is that he's limiting the number of prior art claims Google can bring. Can a judge really limit your allowable defenses? I've always thought there had to be some merit-based or procedural argument to dismiss any part of a case with prejudice. Also, there's cases all the time with more than 3 patent claims at stake, so clearly there's no absolute rule that a case can't go beyond a certain level of complexity. I hope someone with actual legal knowledge can chime in.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- rbanffy 15y agoNext time, Oracle will use a court in East Texas...
- tzs 15y agoMaybe after they get a time machine and go back to around 2006, when plaintiffs were winning more than defendants there, as opposed to now where it isn't even in the top 5.
- rbanffy 15y agoWhat is the trendy court for patent trolls? Since I don't live in the US, court fashion uses to escape me.
- guelo 15y agoI want the source for this claim. I've seen this info spread before but I've never seen a source for it and it strikes me as fake. Is there even anyone compiling court house judgment rankings? And if it is true that other courts are more favorable why would patent trolls continue trying to take the cases to east Texas?
- tzs 15y agohttp://www.natlawreview.com/article/middle-district-florida-ranks-among-best-plaintiffs-patent-infringement-cases http://www.natlawreview.com/article/middle-district-florida-... http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2010/05/patent-litigation-forum-shopping.html http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2010/05/patent-litigation-fo...
- guelo 15y agoThanks! It still looks like East Texas is favorable for plaintiffs, and it still retains the reputation as the most favorable.
- podperson 15y agoNote from reading carefully and per comments on the post, the "3" may be a typo because the timetable involves reducing the claims from 3 to 20 to 10 or somesuch. In essence, it's clear that the judge wants to pare down the case to the strongest elements from each side using a triage process on both sides. Seems reasonable and not necessarily an indication that the judge is leaning one way or another.
- hinathan 15y agoJudge Alsup also ruled in the recent case where Edge Games was trolling EA. Sharp guy, and clearly a low tolerance for BS. http://boingboing.net/2010/10/05/judge-rules-against.html http://boingboing.net/2010/10/05/judge-rules-against.html
- nopassrecover 15y agoFrom the article: Judge William Alsup described Edge Games as 'trolling' and suggested that it could face criminal charges In his order, Alsup even created info-graphics comparing Dr. Langdell's USPTO filings with the actual products, describing in detail "evidence of fraud" that forces the court to play "spot the differences:" --- This judge is brilliant.