Voip Pal Com Inc (VPLM)

[nyt]

Judicial Reassignment Order for Patent Cases

Because Albright is the only district judge in the Waco Division of the Western District of Texas, any patent cases filed in Waco were guaranteed to be assigned to him. This effectively gave plaintiffs the power to choose the judge to whom their cases were assigned by filing in the Waco Division, resulting in a disproportionately large number of patent cases being heard by Albright. Faced with mounting criticism from scholars, U.S. Senators, and the Chief Justice of the United States, on July 25, 2022, Chief Judge Orlando Garcia stripped Albright of automatic assignment of new patent cases filed in the Waco Division.[16] The reassignment order states that to "equitably distribute" patent cases, any new patent cases filed in the Waco Division on or after July 25, 2022 would be randomly assigned among twelve of the judges of the Western District of Texas, reducing Albright's case load to approximately 8% of new patent cases filed in Waco. The order only impacts judicial assignment of cases filed in the Waco Division, and only affects patent cases. Chief Judge Garcia's order is widely viewed by practitioners as signaling the demise of the Western District of Texas as a major venue for patent litigation.[17]