Remember when Plano was famous for being the headquarters of Frito-Lay, Dr. Pepper, J.C. Penny, and Pizza Hut?
Those were the good old days, and folks were proud of the hometown.
Then, something happened. Alien creatures began to descend from outer space, or other states, and things started to change.
It happened gradually and no one noticed at first, but, one day folks woke up and realized that Plano had become – the Planet of the Patent Trolls!
Why didn't our leaders recognize the threat? Why didn't they protect us? Why didn't they resist the invasion at the outset and turn it back?
Why didn't someone like former East Texas Judge T. John Ward deny them access to our courts, instead of welcoming them and allowing them to overburden our justice system?
It may be too late now. They're firmly entrenched and they've compromised too many of our fellow citizens. Even Judge Ward's son, T. John Jr., is working for them.
Jr. is currently representing Plano Planet patent troll Realtime Data in a patent-infringement suit in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas against Barracuda Networks, a California-based company incorporated in Delaware.
Barracuda might have benefited from the U.S. Supreme Court's recent, unanimous TC Heartland decision limiting patent suits to districts where the defendant is incorporated or has an established place of business, but the ruling came down while its own case was in progress. Its subsequent motion for leave and dismissal on the basis of improper venue, citing the Heartland precedent, was denied by U.S. Magistrate Judge John Love, who chided them for not anticipating the Supreme Court decision and making a venue argument sooner.
“Because Barracuda neither is incorporated in Texas nor ‘has a regular and established place of business’ in this district – and Realtime Data has not alleged otherwise – venue is improper,” Barracuda argued in its motion.
An argument that would be persuasive on most other planets, but apparently not in Plano, headquarters of the Planet of the Patent Trolls.