Last week was actually a pretty quiet week for media coverage of the Waco Division, but now we return to our (quasi-)regularly scheduled link roundup:
- Richard Lloyd of IAM Media covers remarks from Judge Albright made earlier this week at the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s spring meeting: Speed will remain of the essence in the Western District of Texas, Judge Albright vows (subscription required, but up to two articles per month are available for free). Mr. Lloyd hypothesizes that “calls might now start to grow for another judge in WDTX to take on some of the burden”—which is possible, but the Austin Division judges have been asking for an expanded bench for years (if not decades) without Congressional relief, so don’t hold your breath…
- Jennifer Marsh of Bloomberg Law looks at the Waco Division’s case volumes, particularly in relation to the District of Delaware, and in light of recent Federal Circuit mandamus orders: ANALYSIS: Patent Law’s Lone Star Continues to Shine—In the West
- Thomas B. Carter of Baker Botts takes a pass through Judge Albright’s recent Section 1404 jurisprudence: Should I Stay or Can I Go: Recent Developments Regarding Venue Transfer in the Western District of Texas
- Over at Winston & Strawn’s WacoWatch blog, Ahtoosa Amini Dale and Brett Johnson cover a recent motion to transfer granted by Judge Albright: Judge Albright Finds S.D. California More Convenient Because S.D. California Already Had Familiarity with the Patents in Suit
- And Law360 continues to cover many other stories Waco-related (all subscription required):
- Ryan Davis brings his own perspective to Judge Albright’s AIPLA remarks: Albright Says He’ll Very Rarely Put Cases On Hold For PTAB
- Andrew Karplan covers the Federal Circuit’s denial of Western Digital’s transfer-related mandamus petition (which Mark brought you earlier this week): Western Digital Can’t Exit Albright’s Court, Fed. Circ. Finds
- Tiffany Hu covers the opening of post-trial briefing relating to the ESW v. Roku trial: Albright Told ‘Egregiously Improper’ Testimony Merits Retrial
- J. Edward Moreno covers dismissal of a Federal Circuit mandamus petition relating to the Kerr Machine v. Vulcan Industrial case, following an apparent settlement: Fed. Circ. Appeal Dropped Challenging Albright’s Comments. This was actually the second time Vulcan had challenged Judge Albright’s denial of a motion to stay pending Post-Grant Review (two different motions, to be clear); the Federal Circuit denied Vulcan’s first petition in November.
- Finally, a note about something we’ve literally never seen before. We previously covered the Federal Circuit’s mandamus order in In re Tracfone that faulted Judge Albright’s delay in issuing a transfer ruling in that case (not to be confused with the second mandamus order that reversed the actual transfer analysis in the same case). We also covered the group of 22 law professors who released an open letter arguing for more liberal public access to sealed filings and orders in Waco Division cases. Now a mostly different group of 23 law professors—though with five members overlapping the first batch—have filed a motion on the Tracfone docket requesting that the Federal Circuit designate that order as precedential. It’s quite common to see legal faculty filing amicus briefs, but our initial research reveals no other recent instances in which a similar procedural motion has been filed by law professors at the Federal Circuit. (Though we welcome being made aware of other examples.) Dani Kass of Law360 has coverage: Profs Tell Fed. Circ. To Make Albright Rebuke Precedential (subscription required)
See you next week.
Disclaimer: We share these links because we think they’re worth reading. Our doing so does not necessarily imply that we endorse any of the viewpoints expressed by the authors (unless we’re the authors).