Microsoft sued over Xbox Live

Wrap your head around this bit of legal maneuvering: Paltalk, a company based in New York (but incorporated in Delaware), sues Washington-based Microsoft in an East Texas court. Why would the Eastern District of Texas have jurisdiction over such dispute? Because “Microsoft has subscribers who reside in the Eastern District of Texas, and Microsoft provides infringing online services to its subscribers in this district.” The whole thing might sound like a farce except for the fact that such lawsuits are depressingly familiar feature of the technology landscape. (Several Texas districts are well-known judicial “hellholes” owing to their overwhelming number of guilty verdicts.)

In its court filing, Paltalk alleges that Microsoft’s Xbox Live (whether accessed on the Xbox or the 360) infringes on two of its patents. The company has suffered damages “in at least the tens of millions of dollars,” which raises obvious questions about why they waited four years to file the suit (Xbox Live was launched in late 2002).

Full story: Ars Technica