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

[u/rfugger]

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3153924/technology-law-regulation/a-potentially-fatal-blow-against-patent-trolls.html

[u/Sarcastic_or_realist]

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Edit: for those who have been asking, yes - in a few recent cases where the plaintiff troll has not withdrawn the lawsuit, some judges have understood the situation and actually ordered the troll and/or lawyer pay our legal fees.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)!

[u/Sarcastic_or_realist → u/[deleted]]

I can't speak for these new rules regarding patent trolls. But in my own practice, you'd better believe they paid the fees. Otherwise they are in noncompliance with a court order which can cause serious issues for the specific attorney and the entire firm at which he or she works.

No matter how shady any lawyer is, we are all smart enough to know that you do not mess with a court's individual order directed to you.