Even a non-lawyer such as yours truly could see this one coming, as a patent troll has dropped its lawsuit against security vendor Fortinet rather than press on in front of a California judge who called its alleged Texas office "a sham" and its lone alleged employee there "Mr. Sham."

Moreover, as recounted in this Sept. 25 Buzzblog post, Judge William Alsup had said he expected the troll, Network Protection Sciences (NPS), to explain to the jury why it operated the "sham" office and didn't really employ "Mr. Sham," despite having given him a fancy title and presented him to a Texas court as a valued company executive. (Answer: Because patent trolls love suing in troll-friendly Texas.)

Seems NPS decided that might not represent a winning strategy. From a Courthouse News Service story:

Alsup scheduled the trial for Oct. 1, with jury selection beginning Sept. 30. Just before the trial was set to begin, he issued an order for dismissal with prejudice. The case was then referred to a magistrate judge for settlement talks. Attorneys for both NPS and Fortinet declined to comment.

Good for Fortinet. But a shame we won't be hearing from Sham.