Managing IP
Rani Mehta July 29, 2022
Counsel at three NPEs, two tech companies, a law firm and a litigation funder reveal what the random distribution of patent cases in Waco means for their strategies
Judge Alan Albright is the most famous and controversial figure on the US patent landscape – but that status probably won’t last much longer.
Intellectual property counsel were shocked this week to learn that the chief judge for the District Court for the Western District of Texas ordered all patent cases filed in the court’s Waco division on or after July 25 to be randomly assigned to west Texas’s 12 judges.
Albright, a former patent litigator, had been responsible for around a quarter of all patent suits filed in the US (roughly 1,000 per year). Now it’s expected he’ll oversee just 8.3% of that bulk – approximately 83 cases a year, if the same numbers are filed.
The judge, who single-handedly transformed the Western District of Texas into the most popular forum for patent matters in the US, has been sidelined. That development will in all likelihood stem the flow of patent suits into his court.
This order, released Monday, July 25, makes the Western District of Texas a much less alluring forum for plaintiffs, according to counsel at non-practising entities (NPEs) and other firms.
Wendy Verlander, CEO of NPE Blackbird Technologies and managing partner of Verlander LLP in Boston, says her company is less likely to file cases there.
“We filed there because we thought Waco’s local patent rules were very fair to both sides. Now with this new order, there’s a one in 12 chance of getting Waco. It seems to completely undercut a lot of reasons for filing there,” she says.
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