We know it’s been a long while since we’ve been heard from; it was one of those summers (and may also be one of those autumns). TBD when “real” content returns, but we wanted to be sure to note that Judge Albright’s Court will be hosting a patent trial starting this week, this first since June’s Freshub v. Amazon. Voir dire is this morning in front of Judge Manske, and the trial proper will open at 1:30PM Central this afternoon. As before, remote observation will be enabled: +1 669 254 5252  or +1 646 828 7666  or +1 551 285 1373  or +1 669 216 1590  Webinar ID: 161 859 1491 Passcode: 823937 Mobile-friendly:  +16692545252,,1618591491#,,,,*823937# Of note, this trial was actually moved earlier twice: As of September 7, ...

Fresh off last week’s updates to Judge Albright’s Standing Orders (covered here and here); this week brings a further update, in the form of version 3.4 of the Court’s Order Governing Proceedings. It’s been only about four months since the Court rolled out OGP v3.3, and it’s fair to say this is just a series of small-to-medium tweaks, rather than a major overhaul. Here are the highlights: Markman briefing: For all cases with opening Markman briefs due 30 days or more from today, the order of parties flips, and now defendants file the opening brief. The Court has publicly commented that this is based on feedback from the bar to the effect that defendants (usually, though not always) tend to pursue the majority of construction positions—not to mention that indefiniteness issues are of course ...

Amended Standing Order for Notice of Readiness: Yesterday Judge Albright released an amended standing order concerning the Case Readiness Status Report (“CRSR”), which informs the Court that a case is ready for a Case Management Conference (“CMC”). Under the previous standing order, parties were required to wait forthe Court to issue a CMC date, which in turn triggers various default scheduling dates in the Court’s Order Governing Proceedings (“OGP”). However, the new order removes any “waiting” and instead, automatically sets the CMC date.  Here are the highlights: The Court provides guidance on when the Plaintiff is to file the CRSR in a multi-defendant case. “The parties are to file within 7 days after the defendant (or at least one defendant among a group of related defendants sued ...

Yesterday the Court updated two of its standing orders: Standing Order Regarding Venue and Jurisdictional Discovery Limits and Standing Order Regarding Motion for Inter-District Transfer. Here are the highlights: Amended Standing Order Regarding Motion for Inter-District Transfer The Court made a one sentence addition to this order: “Whenever a Markman hearing is postponed pursuant to this Order, Fact Discovery will begin one day after the originally scheduled Markman Hearing date.” Otherwise, the Order remains unchanged.  Why the slight modification? A couple of reasons. First, with the Court’s already compressed fact discovery time frame, any significant delay could both impair the parties’ ability to adequately prepare for trial and result in moving a trial date – something the Court is typically reluctant to do. Second, we think it provides ...

Judge Albright’s Court will be hosting yet another patent trial this coming week. Here’s how observers can dial in to the audio feed in Freshub v. Amazon, which is scheduled to open this morning, June 14: +1 669 254 5252  or +1 646 828 7666  or +1 551 285 1373  or +1 669 216 1590  Webinar ID: 160 731 3863 Passcode: 300137 Mobile-friendly:  +16692545252,,1607313863#,,,,*300137# The trial appears to be about average (or median) length for Judge Albright, with the parties allotted 13 hours per side, plus 30 minutes for each of opening and summation. A few points of minor novelty relative to previous Waco patent trials: There’s a patent eligibility entry on the parties’ proposed verdict forms (dueling versions, naturally). Section 101 has not, as far ...

We’ll start off this week with a roundup of last week’s links. Considering there was a full jury trial (albeit a very short one!) in the Waco Division last week, there actually wasn’t an overwhelming amount of media coverage. Perhaps that’s a sign of a maturing Court—i.e., as more jury trials occur in front of Judge Albright, the less each one moves the needle on expectations for the next case that comes down the road.  As for what made it into the press, it appears to have been a subscription-only affair. We’ll summarize the underlying facts a bit (and as always, we encourage you to check out the other perspectives linked below): As alluded-to above, last week’s trial in CloudofChange v. NCR really was a blink-and-you-missed-it affair. ...

Today the jury in CloudofChange v. NCR returned a verdict in favor of Plaintiff CloudofChange, to the tune of $13.2 million. The jury also found NCR liable for willful infringement of the asserted patents.  Here is where we stand thus far in Waco patent trials: Case Opening Verdict Summary MV3 Partners LLC v.Roku, Inc. 10/5/2020 10/14/2020 Not infringed VLSI v. Intel Corp. 2/22/2021 3/2/2021 Infringed; not wilful; $2.175B lump-sum damages ESW Holdings v. Roku, Inc. 4/5/2021 4/9/2021 Not infringed; 1 of 2 invalid VLSI v. Intel Corp. 4/12/2021 4/21/2021 Not infringed; not invalid CloudofChange, LLC v. NCR Corp. 5/17/2021 5/20/2021 Infringed; finding of wilful infringement; $13 million lump-sum damages

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 ...

Another week, another patent trial before Judge Albright. Here’s how observers can dial in to the audio feed in CloudofChange v. NCR, which is scheduled to open this coming Monday, May 17: +1 669 254 5252  or +1 646 828 7666  or +1 551 285 1373  or +1 669 216 1590  Webinar ID: 161 139 1881 Passcode: 689472 Mobile-friendly:  +16692545252,,1611391881#,,,,*689472# The jury will come in about 9AM; pre-trial arguments (if any) may start about 8AM. This could end up being a quick trial. It’s a two-patent case, but there was some significant narrowing during the three separate pretrial conferences held over the last few weeks. (#1 takeaway: Make sure everything you want your expert to say is clearly spelled out in her/his report.) As always, it should be ...

On May 10th, the Federal Circuit denied a writ of mandamus requested by Western Digital Technologies (WDT), which unsuccessfully sought transfer out of the Western District of Texas to the Northern District of California under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a). While the Federal Circuit did not explicitly endorse the District Court’s reasoning, it did confirm that the analysis fell short of the threshold required for an appellate override. The District Court’s February 9 denial of WDT’s transfer motion appears inauspicious for corporate defendants seeking to pull their cases from the Western District of Texas, to the extent there are party or non-party witnesses located in or near the Western District. In the course of its analysis, the District Court emphasized that: “Relevant” witnesses pushed the needle on ...