Day: 12/23/2020

Do You Roku? Watch This – Ep. 25 [Podcast]

Do You Roku? Watch This – Ep. 25 [Podcast]

In this week’s episode of Stuff You Should Know About IP, Thomas Colson and Raymond Guarnieri discuss a patent infringement lawsuit that MV3 Partners brought against Roku. The case was filed in the Western District of Texas, and Roku claimed that there was no infringement. Judge Alan Albright, who presided over the case, is a former patent litigator. A candy store named Hey Sugar sits across from the Waco courthouse, and after Judge Albright was appointed in 2018, he went on a speaking tour entitled Why You Should File Your Next Patent Case Across From Hey Sugar to encourage would-be litigants to file in his district. At the time of the case, MV3 Partners also had pending litigation against companies like Best Buy, Kohl’s, Google, Microsoft, Sony, Samsung, LG, Apple, Philips, and Amazon. Judge Albright moved the trial along rapidly: the litigants were arguing in court within two years, and a panel of seven jurors heard the case over five days. There is no legal requirement that jurors in a patent infringement case be technically-savvy. This jury ruled that Roku did not infringe the patent rights of MV3 Partners. A litigator often wants to provide a jury with the simplest instructions possible.

Icons made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com