Judge Rodney Gilstrap has ruled that prolific NPE eDekka LLC must pay attorney fees to a group of online retailers in the NPE’s shopping cart campaign, a rarity in the generally plaintiff-friendly Eastern District of Texas. The judge’s December 17 order is especially remarkable given his usual reluctance to shift fees to prevailing parties, a reluctance that had persisted in spite of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Octane allowing fee awards in “exceptional” cases.