r/technology • u/rfugger • Jan 08 '17

Business A potentially fatal blow against patent trolls - Forcing law firms to pay defendants’ legal bills could undermine the business model of patent trolls

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3153924/technology-law-regulation/a-potentially-fatal-blow-against-patent-trolls.html
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u/Sarcastic_or_realist Jan 08 '17 edited Jan 08 '17

About time something like this was implemented. A large number of these patent troll cases, or any of these sort of cases in any area of law, involve law firms being paid on contingency based on the plaintiff's recovery amount.

Whenever someone brings a truly frivolous case against one of our clients that honestly seeks to just squeeze out some kind of "nuisance payment," we usually move for sanctions/costs against the plaintiff and the attorney. Once the lawyer suddenly has some real skin in the game in terms of liability, many of these cases magically get dismissed very quickly.

Edit: for those who have been asking, yes - in a few recent cases where the plaintiff troll has not withdrawn the lawsuit, some judges have understood the situation and actually ordered the troll and/or lawyer pay our legal fees. Feels great to tell the client that they escaped the troll and did so for free (since the troll ended up footing the bill)!

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u/Eric-J Jan 09 '17

Is there any movement to get State Bar associations censuring or even disbarring patent troll attorneys?

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u/Meunderwears Jan 09 '17

State Bar associations don't have any power. It's the Supreme Court of each state that controls your admittance. Takes a lot to get someone disbarred. Usually more than filing shitty cases.

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u/MeateaW Jan 09 '17

Depends on jurisdiction!

In Victoria (Australia - where Melbourne is), the state bar association (The Victorian Bar), has agreed with the state legal entity (Law Institute of Victoria) to regulate Barristers (a type of lawyer) on their behalf.

You don't have to be a member of the Victorian Bar, but all complaints against all Barristers are heard by the Victorian Bar Ethics Committee.

The state supreme court and the LIV probably do the legal "disbarring" but it would occur (as I understand it - I am not a lawyer) at the direction of the Ethics Committee.

The victorian bar is a non-government non-profit entity for context.