WACO — Lex Machina, a LexisNexis company, today released its annual Patent Litigation Report, which found that nearly a quarter of all the patent cases filed last year were heard by Judge Alan Albright.
The report examines patent litigation trends in federal district and appellate courts, as well as the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, focusing on the three-year period from 2019 to 2021 and surveying emerging trends in case filings, active districts, judges, law firms, parties, timing metrics, case resolutions, findings and damages.
Judge Albright, a former patent attorney who took the bench in 2018, is a U.S. district judge in the Waco Division of the Western District of Texas.
"The increasing role of Judge Albright and the Western District of Texas in patent litigation is a major topic of discussion among litigators," said Elaine Chow, Lex Machina's patent legal data expert and author of the report.
"The kind of data and analytics Lex Machina provides in reports like this one really highlight the movement and trends in district court, appellate, and PTAB litigation over time. It becomes possible to understand and anticipate evolving patterns in patent litigation."
The report found that 974 patent cases were filed in the Western District in 2021, collecting around 23 percent of the total patent cases filed in the U.S. for that year. The District of Delaware was a close second with 885 cases. The Eastern District of Texas heard 249 cases. And the Central District of California had 249 cases while the Northern District of California finished fifth with 184 cases.
According to the report, the Western District overtook the District of Delaware as the top venue for patent litigation in 2020. The Eastern District of Texas and the Northern District of California have remained steady as the third and fifth most active districts, respectively. The consolidation of patent cases filed in the top three districts has increased over the past three years from 47 percent in 2019 to 57 percent in 2021.
“One reason for this drastic shift is due to Judge Albright’s concerted efforts to attract patent cases, with the result that an increasing number of patent cases are funneled to the Western District of Texas,” the report states.
The 932 cases heard by Judge Albright in 2021 represented 23 percent of all patent cases filed that year and 96 percent of the cases filed in the Western District of Texas, according to the report.
“Judge Albright heard more cases over the past three years than the next two district judges combined,” the report states. “Judge Albright's local rules for patent litigation postpone determining the issue of patent eligibility in most cases until summary judgment or claim construction, as well as promoting a fast-moving docket.
“This, along with Judge Albright’s explicit efforts to encourage the filing of patent cases in the Western District of Texas, likely contributed to his top ranking as the most active judge.”
This is the first report to showcase the newest federal appellate analytics and trends in patent litigation in the federal courts of appeals.
Findings from the report include:
- For patent cases filed from 2019 to 2021, WSOU Investments was the top plaintiff and Samsung was the top defendant;
- While Rabicoff Law represented plaintiffs in the highest number of patent cases filed from 2019 to 2021, The Chong Law Firm represented plaintiffs in the highest number of patent cases filed in 2021; and
- Fish & Richardson represented defendants in the highest number of cases filed in 2019, 2020, and 2021.
Register here for a copy of the report.