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Despite decline in filings, Texas' Western District still top spot for patent suits

SOUTHEAST TEXAS RECORD

Sunday, December 22, 2024

Despite decline in filings, Texas' Western District still top spot for patent suits

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WACO — Judge Alan Albright and the Western District of Texas continued to hear the most patent cases in 2022, but the numbers show distinct drops in their cases from the previous year.

Lex Machina, a LexisNexis company, today released its annual Patent Litigation Report, which examines trends in patent litigation in federal district courts, appellate courts, and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. 

Focusing on the three-year period from 2020 to 2022, the report surveys emerging trends in case filings, venues, judges, law firms, parties, timing metrics, case resolutions, findings, and damages. The report often focuses on different sets of data, e.g., filtering cases in order to provide analytics on ANDA, PTAB, and federal appellate cases.

“In the practice area of patent litigation, there’s been a lot of discussion and analyses of Judge Albright and the Western District of Texas in recent years,” said Elaine Chow, Lex Machina's patent legal data expert and editor of the report. 

“This report really highlights the power of our data and analytics, because it reveals the possible effects of even very recent court orders, which may have contributed to decreases in patent cases before Judge Albright and the Western District of Texas in 2022.” 

The city of Austin, which is located within the Western District, is ripe with tech companies that are often named as defendants in patent litigation filed in the Waco Division.

The city of Austin, which is located within the Western District, is ripe with tech companies that are often named as defendants in patent litigation filed in the Waco Division.

Last July, Chief U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia signed an order randomly assigning patent cases filed in the Waco Division “in an effort to equitably distribute those cases.”

Findings from the report include the following:

- In 2022, 3,821 patent cases were filed, continuing the steady trend of patent case filings since 2017;

- The Western District of Texas was the most active district in 2022 with 867 patent cases filed, though this number dropped from 2021 in which 981 cases were filed;

- Judge Albright was assigned to the highest number of patent cases in 2022 with 678 cases, though this number dropped from 2021 in which he was assigned to 932 cases;

- For patent cases filed from 2020 to 2022, Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. was the top plaintiff and Samsung Electronics America, Inc. was the top defendant;

- While The Chong Law Firm represented plaintiffs in the highest number of patent cases filed in 2020 to 2022, Fish & Richardson represented defendants in the highest number of cases filed in 2020, 2021, and 2022;

- For patent cases that were appealed to a federal appellate court and terminated from 2020 to 2022 with a decision on the merits of the appeal, 36 percent were ultimately reversed.

Lex Machina’s reports and software enable practitioners to devise data-driven litigation strategies. Register here for a copy of the report.

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