The Town That Trolls Built
Down at the old Blue Frog.
Photographer; Mario Villafuerte/Bloomberg"Do you know about the recent Supreme Court patent decision?" I asked Shawne Somerford, the proprietor of Blue Frog Restaurant and Catering in Marshall, Texas. She laughed. "Is there anybody in Marshall who doesn’t know about that patent case?" she replied.
The case in question is TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods. On Monday, the Court ruled unanimously that patent holders suing corporations can't just go hunting for a friendly court, as they've long been able to do. Instead they have to file in districts where the company is incorporated or where it has an established place of business. This is bad news for patent trolls, a.k.a. non-practicing entities, which make no products but brandish patents to sue companies for infringement.