Today, the Federal Circuit granted a writ of mandamus, ordering the Eastern District of Texas to dismiss or transfer a case for lack of venue. This order is the latest in a series of Federal Circuit decisions, post-TC Heartland, where the Eastern District of Texas has tried to hold on to patent cases even when…
Tag Archive for venue
No More Bites At The Apple In The Eastern District
by Josh Landau •
Last week, it was widely reported that Apple plans to close its retail stores in the Eastern District of Texas in order to avoid facing patent lawsuits in the district. Given that a single patent lawsuit can easily cost just as much as opening an Apple store (estimated at $8-10 million per store), even if…
All My Excess (Venue) Leaving Texas
by Josh Landau •
Yesterday afternoon, the Federal Circuit overturned the Eastern District of Texas’s test for venue. Even after TC Heartland, patent trolls were trying to keep defendants in the Eastern District of Texas. And in the first order issued by Judge Gilstrap, in a case called Raytheon v. Cray, it seemed like he was going to cooperate.…
TC Heartland’s Effects: A Bang Or A Whimper?
by Josh Landau •
Since tomorrow we’re celebrating Independence Day here in D.C., I thought I’d go back and revisit the Independence From Eastern Texas case, TC Heartland, to see how big of an effect it has really had so far. Are we talking: Or more of a: Prediction And Reality Post-TC Heartland, a number of predictions (including…
The Special Nature Of Venue In Patent Law
by Josh Landau •
TC Heartland continues to impact the world of patent litigation. I haven’t run the numbers yet on what’s happened since the decision came down, but just having read through the list of cases filed, the Eastern District of Texas certainly has seen a reduction in cases filed. Tomorrow morning, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on…
Uniloc-ing Defendants Into The Eastern District of Texas
by Josh Landau •
Yesterday, Uniloc sued Google in the Eastern District of Texas. Uniloc is a Luxembourg based company, not a Texas company.1 Google? Also not a Texas company. So, if neither of the companies involved are Texan, why are we still in the Eastern District of Texas? History Uniloc filed a set of lawsuits against Google based…
One Week of TC Heartland
by Josh Landau •
It’s been one week since TC Heartland was decided. I thought I’d take a preliminary look at how the decision has changed case filing strategies. In order to do so, I looked at at how many new patent cases had been filed in which jurisdictions from Tuesday-Friday of last week (5/23-5/26), in comparison to the…
Opposition to Venue Reform Misses Target
by Matt Levy •
Note: The original version of this post first appeared at IPWatchdog. A group of 28 law professors just sent a letter to Congress opposing patent venue reform. As I’ll explain below, however, their points really don’t justify delaying venue reform. As you probably know, more patent cases are brought in the Eastern District of Texas than…
Venue Reform Seems Like Something Nearly Everyone Can Agree On
by Matt Levy •
Venue reform seems like something nearly everyone agrees would be a positive thing.
Why the Innovation Act Needs To Freeze Out the Eastern District of Texas (Part 2 of 2)
by Matt Levy •
In my last post, I told you about the Eastern District of Texas and why it’s such a popular venue for patent trolls. (You can read more about it in the article, “Forum Selling.”) In this post, I want to tell you a key provision of the Innovation Act that will do something to address…