AUSTIN - Once known as the “rocket docket” for patent litigation, the Eastern District of Texas has experienced a resurgence in infringement filings so far in 2023, according to data collected by LexMachina.
For a number of years, the Eastern District was the top spot for filing patent lawsuits. In 2017, however, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion in the case of TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods, limiting venue shopping in patent litigation.
A year later, Judge Alan Albright, a former patent attorney, took the bench and became the only district judge in the Waco Division of the Western District of Texas. In three year’s time, Judge Albright was presiding over roughly 25 percent of all infringement suits filed in the nation.
Prior to Albright, Delaware and East Texas had overseen the vast majority of the nation’s patent cases. But as Austin is ripe with tech companies, the Western District, specifically the Waco Division, surpassed them both.
Last July, then 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.”
And although Judge Albright and the Western District remain popular with patent plaintiffs, Judge Rodney Gilstrap of the Eastern District has seen a resurgence in patent case filings in the first nine months of 2023, writes Elaine Chow in a LexMachina blog.
According to LexMachina’s findings, out of the 2,276 patent cases filed in the U.S. during the first nine months of 2023, 418 cases were filed in the Western District, and 417 cases were filed in the Eastern District. The District of Delaware was third with 338 patent case filings.
“In 2022, 699 cases or 18 percent of all patent cases filed in the U.S. were filed before Judge Albright,” writes Chow. “Judge Gilstrap was second with 366 cases or 10 percent of all patent cases filed in the U.S., while Judge Richard Andrews of the District of Delaware was third with 181 cases filed or 5 percent.
“But in the first nine months of 2023, their positions had flipped: Judge Gilstrap had the highest number of patent filings for the time period with 316 cases. Judge Albright was second with 182, followed by Judge Maryellen Noreika of the District of Delaware with 96 patent case filings.”
LexMachina also found that patent litigants do not seem to be avoiding the Western District of Texas in spite of the July 2022 order, as the number of patent cases filed by high volume plaintiffs assigned to Judge Albright steadily increased in the first nine months of 2023.