Thanks to a ruling from the Supreme Court, patent trolls could see their designs being thwarted more often than they have until today. Patent trolls stand as a scourge of the industry, ie, companies and even individuals that hold intellectual property with the sole purpose of levying infringement lawsuits against other companies - without producing anything themselves. They're kind of the leeches of the tech and business worlds, without some of the benefits their biological counterparts manage to deliver.The latest ruling comes as a result of a legal battle between beverage flavoring company TC Heartland LLC and food and beverage company Kraft Heinz Co. Heartland attempted to get the matter transferred to its home state of Indiana, arguing that it has no presence in Delaware and that 98 percent of its sales come from outside of the state. Justices with the US Supreme Court voted 8-0 on Monday that patent infringement lawsuits can only be filed in courts where the defendant is incorporated, overturning a previous ruling by the US Courts of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which ruled, last year, that patent lawsuits can be held anywhere a defendant's products are sold.

That's quite an interesting sphere of locales, to be sure. Considering that, it's at least strange (not to say suspicious) how 40 percent of all patent suits in the US are filed in East Texas. This happens because East Texas has a history of rulings in favor of the so-called patent-trolls, and history really does tend to inform present and future action. This ruling should put some cold water on some patent troll's endeavors, simply from the added unpredictability of suing in a state that doesn't have a history of ruling in favor of them.

I've taken the liberty of leaving an interesting infographic below for your perusal, as well as the result of a study on patent trolls circa 2013, from the archives of the previous administration.