I Approve of Apple's Actions

Apple is closing its stores in the Eastern District of Texas to eliminate any possibility of having to face a law suit in the patent troll friendly court district.

Even better, it's offering jobs to employees from those stores at stores across the district boundaries:

Apple has confirmed its plans to close retail stores in the Eastern District of Texas — a move that will allow the company to better protect itself from patent infringement lawsuits, according to Apple news sites 9to5Mac and MacRumors, which broke the news of the stores’ closures. Apple says that the impacted retail employees will be offered new jobs with the company as a result of these changes.

The company will shut down its Apple Willow Bend store in Plano, Texas as well as its Apple Stonebriar store in Frisco, Texas, MacRumors reported, and Apple confirmed. These stores will permanently close up shop on Friday, April 12. Customers in the region will instead be served by a new Apple store located at the Galleria Dallas Shopping Mall, which is expected to open April 13.

Apple did not comment on the stores’ dates of closure or the new store’s opening.

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The Eastern District of Texas had become a popular place for patent trolls to file their lawsuits – which may be filed where the defendant committed the infringement. However, a more recent Supreme Court ruling has attempted to crack down on the practice. The court ruled that patent holders could no longer choose where to file.

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The Apple store closures could have had a notable impact on area jobs, had Apple not offered new positions to its retail staff. 

I'm surprised that more businesses have not taken similar actions, given the thoroughly dysfunctional nature of this court district.