A Federal Circuit judge raised doubts Tuesday about the need to move Uniloc’s patent infringement suit against Apple to the tech giant’s home state of California after the iPhone maker argued that U.S. District Judge Alan Albright wrongly kept the case in West Texas, according to Law360 (a subscription is required to read the entire article).
Apple attorney Melanie L. Bostwick said the cases should all be judged in the Northern District of California, partly because that is where all of the Apple witnesses are. However, Law360 reports that U.S. Circuit Judge Kimberley A. Moore disputed the claim that no one at Apple’s Austin, Texas campus, nor anyone at its Austin-based partner Flextronics have worked on the devices alleged to infringe Uniloc patents.
Uniloc, an Australia-based company that I consider a “patent troll,” has sued Apple numerous times on dubious claims. A “patent troll” is an individual or an organization that purchases and holds patents for unscrupulous purposes such as stifling competition or launching patent infringement suits. In legal terms, a patent troll is a type of non-practicing entity: someone who holds a patent but is not involved in the design or manufacture of any product or process associated with that patent.
