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A comment on Appeals Court: Judge Can't Ignore the Supreme Court to Keep Patent Cases in TX. Parent comment

Re:Appeals Court: Judge Can't Ignore the Supreme Court to Ke... by tyingq on Tuesday September 26, 2017 @08:53AM (#15338161)
>I think this ruling will severely curtail his future income.

I don't see any obvious tie in number of cases in his court to his income. I assume it helps the local Sherman economy some, with all the lawyers staying in the rural town, but that's not very direct. Maybe you're suggesting he would get some deferred quid-pro-quo like a job offer or company board spot when he retires?

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Re:Appeals Court: Judge Can't Ignore the Supreme Court to Ke... by Sir_Cmpwn on Tuesday September 26, 2017 @08:57AM (#15338182)
If I recall correctly, his son is a lawyer in that district who specializes in representing patent trolls.
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Re:Appeals Court: Judge Can't Ignore the Supreme Court to Ke... by tyingq on Tuesday September 26, 2017 @09:21AM (#15338366)
His son is a lawyer specializing in commercial law. He's based in Dallas. It appears most of his cases were in a different district, but I see at least one case on the Eastern District. The cases appear to be more broad than just patent cases.

https://www.velaw.com/Who-We-Are/Find-a-Lawyer/Gilstrap--Ste...

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Re:Appeals Court: Judge Can't Ignore the Supreme Court to Ke... by Sir_Cmpwn on Tuesday September 26, 2017 @09:42AM (#15338517)
I wonder if this is a complete list of his cases. Given that he's been a laywer for 7 years, I'm inclined to think not, but I can't say I'm familiar enough with the legal world to judge the quality of this source.
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Re:Appeals Court: Judge Can't Ignore the Supreme Court to Ke... by tyingq on Tuesday September 26, 2017 @09:49AM (#15338576)
It says he was a judicial clerk through 2013. And I assume both he and his father would be aware of the potential issues with optics.

Edit: Optics meaning the appearance of bias, nepotism, etc. I don't dispute the judge is supporting patent trolls. There is, though, no evidence it's for personal financial gain, and I suspect there's been significant digging. It is perhaps just ego driven.

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Re:Appeals Court: Judge Can't Ignore the Supreme Court to Ke... by Sir_Cmpwn on Tuesday September 26, 2017 @09:56AM (#15338635)
What is "optics"? And I offer these guys very little trust, given that the father is the shadiest and most notorious patent troll player in the country.
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Re:Appeals Court: Judge Can't Ignore the Supreme Court to Ke... by floatingatoll on Tuesday September 26, 2017 @01:53PM (#15341006)
The “optics” of a situation are “how it would be perceived in a critical evaluation”, especially in the press. So the optics of having a son bring patent case to his father’s patent-friendly district are very poor.
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Re:Appeals Court: Judge Can't Ignore the Supreme Court to Ke... by Bartweiss on Wednesday September 27, 2017 @11:25AM (#15348716)
The main help to the economy appears to be direct charity from Samsung, but I'm not sure that's actually related to Gilstrap's motives. I think he may just be sincere, and bad at his job.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/02/patent-troll-cla...

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