Busiest Patent Districts

BUSIEST PATENT DISTRICTS based on FY 2006 and 2007 filings

Prof. Paul M. Janicke University of Houston Law Center FY2006 BUSIEST PATENT DISTRICTS: per Admin Offc report (2720 cases filed)

2006 2004-05 % of national Rank Rank District 2006 filings total

1 1 CD Cal 262 9.63 2 6 ED TX 216 7.94 3 2 ND Cal 195 7.17 4 7 DNJ 143 5.26 5 3 ND Ill 132 4.85 6 4 SDNY 121 4.45 7 5 D Del 120 4.41 8 11 D Mass 76 2.79 9 13 ND Ga 73 2.66 10 9 D Minn 66 2.43 11 14 SD FL 62 2.28 12 8 ED Mich 61 2.24 13 16 ND TX 54 1.99 14 15 SD Cal 52 1.91 15 12 MD FL 50 1.84 16 20 D Colo 48 1.76 17 22 D Utah 45 1.65 18 10 ED Pa 44 1.62 19 24 ND Ohio 41 1.51 20 ___ D Ore 40 1.47 21 ___ ED Wis 40 1.47 22 ___ D Conn 39 1.43 23 ___ ED Mo 39 1.43 24 21 EDNY 37 1.36 25 19 ED Va 35 1.29

2 FY2007 BUSIEST PATENT DISTRICTS: per Lexis CourtLink search (2772 cases filed)

2007 2006 % of national Rank Rank District 2007 filings total 1 2 ED TX 352 12.7 2 1 CD CA 309 11.1 3 3 ND CA 181 6.5 4 4 NJ 174 6.3 5 7 DE 147 5.3 6 5 ND IL 128 4.6 7 6 SD NY 103 3.7 8 11 SD FL 78 2.8 9 9 ND GA 66 2.4 10 8 MA 57 2.1 11 15 MD FL 54 2.0 12 14 SD CA 52 1.9 13 12 ED MI 51 1.8 14 10 MN 51 1.8 15 18 ED PA 47 1.7 16 19 ND OH 43 1.6 17 __ WD WA 41 1.5 18 __ WD WI 41 1.5 19 25 ED VA 39 1.4 20 13 ND TX 38 1.4 21 17 UT 38 1.4 22 23 ED MO 32 1.2 23 16 CO 31 1.1 24 22 CN 31 1.1 25 __ SD TX 31 1.1

3 Comment:

The Eastern District of Texas, #6 in filings just three years ago, now has more than any other district in the nation. Delays and excessive judicial workloads in the district have been mounting. If the congressional efforts to restrict patent venue are actually enacted, filings in ED Tex. will be dramatically reduced. If Congress does not intervene, will plaintiffs continue to favor this forum?

For cases that survive summary judgment, juries in ED Tex. still find for the patentee most of the time. Verdict sizes in the district are substantial (median winning patentee verdict = $31M from 1-1-05 to date) compared with patent verdicts nationally (median winning patentee verdict = $5.6M).

The main distinguishing feature of E.D. Tex. is, however, not about juries. It lies in the judges’ disinclination to use summary judgment as a disposition tool. Nationwide, summary judgment of noninfringement is far and away the most prevalent disposition tool for contested patent judgments; the Federal Circuit’s docket is comprised mostly of appeals from such judgments. Yet in E.D. Tex. summary judgment remains the exception rather than the rule. Patentees will continue to be motivated to file there if they can.

Paul M. Janicke University of Houston Law Center October 27, 2007