The case is all too familiar. A Texas LLC, founded just a few months ago, sues 10—or 20, or 30—defendants for patent infringement at the same time. Lay the complaints side by side and they are virtually identical, with perhaps only the defendant’s name changed. They also contain the barest of allegations: that the plaintiff owns the patent, that one or more of the defendant’s products infringe the patent and that the plaintiff has suffered damages.
Often, the connections between the patent and the products are so tenuous that defendants are left scratching their heads about how they possibly could have infringed. In other cases it’s clear that the plaintiff is a nonpracticing entity, known more notoriously as a patent troll.
