Eastern District of Texas Stands Alone As Venue For Patent Lawsuits

It is no secret that patent litigation has been concentrated in less than a handful of the 90–plus federal judicial districts in the United States for a number of years. In 2012—after the America Invents Act put in place the current rule that a plaintiff cannot sue unrelated defendants for infringing the same patent in the same case, resulting in a sudden explosion in the number of cases filed—an analysis of new filings saw the Eastern District of Texas and the District of Delaware running neck and neck for the title of favorite forum for patent filings. Together, these two districts accounted for approximately one–third of all new patent lawsuits.

Now that it’s 2015, there is only one undisputed champion: the Eastern District of Texas. According to data published by Patently O, the past three years have seen an explosion of filings in east Texas when compared with other jurisdictions, such that this one judicial district now sees over 40% of all new patent lawsuit filings. The District of Delaware is now a distant second, at less than 10%, with the Central (greater Los Angeles) and Northern (San Francisco and Silicon Valley) Districts of California trailing Delaware in the top four. In fact, there are more patent lawsuits filed in east Texas than in the “Other” category–that is, all of the federal district courts outside the top four combined.

A number of factors appear to contribute to east Texas’ ongoing—and still growing—popularity. To date, the district has taken a broad view of the scope of personal jurisdiction over out–of–state defendants; it has been reluctant to grant transfers to other courts; its patent rules front–load expensive discovery obligations on accused infringers early in cases; it has been reluctant to grant dispositive motions, including under Alice v. CLS Bank, or to rule on such motions until after claim construction and the close of discovery; and success at trial for patent plaintiffs has resulted in some huge verdicts. In light of these factors, it is little wonder that plaintiffs file there and few defendants have the stomach and/or budget to fight there.