Teleflex Article

I’ve got a new article up at The American about the Teleflex case:

It’s a familiar story: productive companies are forced to spend millions of dollars in court to defend themselves against trumped up claims. Most of these frivolous lawsuits fail, but the successful ones net eye-popping payoffs, attracting more ambitious lawyers in pursuit of ever-larger jackpots.

Of course, that describes the campaigns in recent years against the manufacturers of vaccines and breast implants. But it also describes the more recent flood of frivolous patent lawsuits that have plagued the technology industry. Last month, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of KSR v. Teleflex. The case presents the court with an opportunity to put a damper on abuse of the patent system, reducing a serious drag on one of our nation’s most productive industries.

One of the parallels between the tort reform and patent reform issues that I didn’t have space to discuss is the role of forum shopping. Just as certain southern states are known for administering “jackpot justice,” East Texas has become infamous as the go-to location for patent trolls.

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