I understand that in principle, but is that the end of it in reality?
I'm pretty sure NewEgg was recently taken to court by a patent troll, and after the troll realized that NewEgg fights instead of paying, they backed off. Then NewEgg sued to get a judgement that would guarantee this couldn't happen to them again.
I know this is a different venue and there are topical differences. But are you absolutely certain that there is no counter-action Apple (or any company, for that matter) can pursue to get a judgment about this?
Newegg's actions were different, in that the patent owner's dropping the suit didn't actually resolve the question of infringement. It was still out there, and the patent owner could re-file suit at any point in the future. Between now and then, if Newegg were in fact infringing, monetary damages would continue to pile up. So the uncertainty can have a pretty significant impact on business decisions and impair their ability to operate. A request for declaratory judgment seeks to resolve that uncertainty so that both parties can get back to normal.
For Newegg, the request accomplishes a few things. It lets them clear the air, indirectly help solve the resulting from the remaining suits against retailers selling Rosewill products, and it's the legal equivalent of spiking the football and giving the troll a swift kick in the nuts. Minero Digital now gets to defend itself in a Delaware court, absent all of the little advantages of East Texas. It's a rather bad break for them.
Honestly, if I were a patent troll, I'd be scared shitless to send a letter to someone like Newegg. With their stance on patent suits, they're exactly the sort of company that would preemptively file a request for declaratory judgment after they were contacted.
This court case is over. But the fight for encryption was never really in court anyway, it was in Congress and the White House. It became obvious over the past month that there is still a lot of education on encryption that needs to happen.
Boo. IANAL so I can't quite see where the harm may lie in requiring the "moving party" to see through what they started (if the defending party wants it, of course).
I'm all for it. If you bring suit the other party should be allowed to cause you to have to continue if you feel like dropping it. There is some potential for abuse there though, this is not a simple matter.
Counterpoint: if you want to sue everyone in the Unites States for pirating your porn, ask for $50 in settlement for dropping charges, and drop charges for anyone who shows up in court with legal representation, should the judge be sympathetic to you? Isn't a frivolous lawsuit a frivolous lawsuit anymore?
In addition to the counterpoint that newjersey brings up, we could also restrict this power to cases where the plaintiff is the government (local, state, or federal).
While nuisance suits from private actors can totally be ruinous, the potential for harm from government actors is so much greater.
It's not that obvious. Paul Klemperer (auction theorist) covers a similar question: what happens if the losing party has to pay the prevailing party's legal fees? Answer: the same amount will be spent on legal fees and the same cases will be brought forward.
> ...covers a similar question: what happens if the losing party has to pay the prevailing party's legal fees?
That's not at all a similar question. We're talking about staking the following strategy through the heart:
* Some part of USGov makes an overreaching legal demand using a really shaky (perhaps unsupportable) legal argument.
* They get a magistrate to issue an order in an "emergency" ex parte hearing
Now either:
* USGov presents that court order to a small and/or legally clueless business who says: "This is a court order! I have to comply with it, else I get in trouble!". USGov gets what they wanted and gets to bully another unwary victim with the same bullshit tactic
or
* USGov presents that court order to a larger and/or legally savvy business who examines it and says: "No. This is bullshit."
* That company goes to the court and tells the court why the order is bullshit
* The court quietly mumbles: "USGov... they're right, looks like it's bullshit."
* USGov goes: "Oops! We really didn't need that anyway!", withdraws the request, and retries it at a later day with a less savvy victim
So, completely different situations.
If USGov had to keep pushing such cases through if the defendant demanded that they be pushed through, what you'd get is what we get when Newegg fights patent trolls: evisceration of bullies, thugs, and the chicanery that permits them to operate.
The least that should happen in this case is the courts should ask the FBI exactly how did they found an alternative method to crack the iphones. If they don't, its unfair to Apple since they were potentially about to be ordered by the state to exploit a vulnerability themselves. IANAL of course, this is just my informed view based on existing facts.
In this case, moving party didn't drop it so much as stall for time. But, the judge also stayed the order that Apple had to help the FBI which telegraphs her intent. I think the FBI knows it lost this round and needs to find a face-saving way to get out of it.
There's the 'capable of repetition, yet evading review' exception to the mootness doctrine. But I agree this particular case is probably DoA. Maybe Apple can move for sanctions ...
I'm pretty sure NewEgg was recently taken to court by a patent troll, and after the troll realized that NewEgg fights instead of paying, they backed off. Then NewEgg sued to get a judgement that would guarantee this couldn't happen to them again.
I know this is a different venue and there are topical differences. But are you absolutely certain that there is no counter-action Apple (or any company, for that matter) can pursue to get a judgment about this?