Under a new policy announced Monday, July 25, 2022, patent cases filed in Waco, Texas, will be randomly assigned to one of 12 judges in the Western District of Texas, rather than them automatically being heard by Judge Alan Albright.
RPX in their July 2022, Q2 Update notes that “the Western District of Texas was yet again the most popular district for all patent litigation ” with 24% of cases filed in this jurisdiction. Ryan David, writing for Law 360 states, “The fact that nearly a quarter of all patent litigation is before just one of the nation’s more than 600 district court judges has attracted criticism from the top U.S. senators on the committee overseeing intellectual property and led U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to last year declare patent venue one of the top issues facing the judiciary.”
Under Monday’s order, the 12 judges who will now be randomly assigned patent cases filed in Waco, Texas will be Judge Alan Albright; Judges Lee Yeakel and Robert Pitman of the Austin division; Judges Orlando Garcia, Fred Biery, Xavier Rodriguez, Jason Pulliam and David Ezra of the San Antonio division; Judges Kathleen Cardone and Frank Montalvo of the El Paso division; Judge Alia Moses of the Del Rio division; and Judge David Counts of the Midland/Odessa and Pecos divisions.
For further information, please contact: Michael K. Milani, CLP at [email protected] or +1 312 327 4417.