Author name: Western District

Today, September 22, the Court issued a new version 3.1 of its Order Governing Proceedings—i.e., the default procedural reference point for all parties involved in a patent case before Judge Albright. We’ll tackle the major changes below, and in a companion post we also address the Court’s very substantial update to its Standing Order Regarding Notice of Readiness for Scheduling Conference in Patent Cases.  The most notable updates to the OGP are: Meet-and-Confer before the Case Management Conference: OGP v3.0’s previous formal requirement that the parties confer “[n]ot later than 3 days before the CMC” about the scheduling order and discovery limits has been abolished, […]

Today, September 22, Judge Albright recently posted a new standing order regarding “Notice of Readiness for Scheduling Conference in Patent Cases.” The practice of filing a notice of readiness is something the frequent practioners litigating in the Waco Division are most likely already aware of, based on the Court’s prior version of its standing order, which simply required that “when all defendants have responded to the initial pleadings (whether by Answer or Motion), the plaintiff shall inform the Court that the case is ready for an initial Case Management Conference by submitting a Notice that shall also identify (1) any

We’re going to try to make a weekly thing out of sharing interesting content we see around relevant corners of the internet. Some will be specifically Waco- and Western-District-related; some will be generally IP- or patent-related; and some may just be whatever we find intriguing. If you’ve written (or just seen) any content that you think we’d like to feature, please bring it to our attention. On to this week’s roundup: From our similarly-themed friends over at the Waco Patent Litigation Updates blog, here’s a description of the jury-selection procedures that Judge Albright will be employing for his upcoming October

Below is the continuation of my interview with Judge Albright, in which we discuss his philosophy on certain motions, and briefly cover a few personal questions. MS: As of now, you haven’t hired any technical advisors to assist you with patent cases. Is this something you think will ever change? If so, why? JUDGE ALBRIGHT: I think it is likely that I will be hiring a technical advisor for a number of reasons. One, as you noted, we’ve gone from almost no patent cases to 700, meaning we need more bandwidth. Even if I have an additional law clerk and get

Perhaps it’s counter-intuitive to start this blog that’s about practicing in the Waco Division with a discussion about getting one’s case out of the Waco Division—but there’s no question how significant that issue has been to practicing in front of this Court. Motions to transfer for convenience under 28 USC § 1404 have become such a routine part of practicing in front of Judge Albright that the Court’s most recently updated Order Governing Proceedings (OGP) for patent cases promulgated standardized procedures regarding when such motions must be brought. Specifically, transfer motions must be brought early in the case, no more than two weeks following the initial

Since Judge Alan D Albright (yes, there is not a period after the “D” in Judge Albright’s name) was appointed to the Waco Division of the Western District of Texas, Judge Albright has put Waco on the map as a mecca of patent litigation. Because Judge Albright’s tenure on the bench is still relatively in its infancy, many of his ideas and views are not fully fleshed out in judicial opinions. Additionally, since most (if not all) discovery related issues are resolved via teleconference without an issued order, many discovery issues never reach the public’s knowledge. What follows is an

Welcome to the Western District of Texas Patent Blog, a blog by Mark Siegmund and Joe Abraham. You can learn about us at https://wdtxipblog.com/about/. Why does this blog exist? To put things into perspective: before Judge Albright took in the bench 2018, there were only two patent cases filed in the Waco Division—ever. Now, as of this post, Judge Albright has 472 patent cases filed in 2020 alone, more than the entire District of Delaware. Needless to say, Waco has become an important hot-spot for patent litigation, and it looks to remain so for the foreseeable future. Our blog is designed