US District Judge Alan Albright “scolded” Apple and wearable tech company Jawbone Innovations over their unilateral decision to move a patent case’s filing deadlines, reports Bloomberg Law. However, he reversed a decision transferring the case from West Texas to Apple’s desired venue so Jawbone wouldn’t bear the brunt of the consequences for a joint mistake.
In a Tuesday order, Albright said a misunderstanding over venue-transfer discovery deadlines that led to Jawbone and Apple changing their own briefing deadlines without first asking court permission was “inexcusable,” even if the parties didn’t believe the tweaks would affect their patent dispute.
About the lawsuits
Lodged with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in September 2021, the complaint from Jawbone Innovations, the current owner of Jawbone’s patents (a “patent troll,” in my opinion), claims Apple devices infringe on intellectual property related to audio technologies. The patents involve methods of performing noise cancellation through hardware and software, detecting voiced and unvoiced speech, creating virtual microphone array and deploying multi-microphone beamforming arrays.
What’s a patent troll?
A patent holding company exists to hold patents on behalf of one or more other companies but does not necessarily manufacture products or supply services based upon the patents held. Many folks, like me, consider such companies to be patent trolls.
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.
