So why the recent rush to file in Waco? To be clear, most patent suits filed in Waco are by NPEs looking for a faster and more predictable road to settlement and not necessarily the largest possible jury award. But as the recent verdict in VLSI v. Intel revealed, when given the right case, juries in the Western District have no trouble granting the $1Billion+ awards seen in the other major patent venues. For non-practicing plaintiffs, filing in Waco also has the benefits of knowing exactly who your judge will be and that the chance of an early invalidation of the asserted patent(s) by either the court or the PTAB is essentially zero.
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Of particular interest to non-practicing plaintiffs, Judge Albright has never granted a pleading stage motion for lack of patentable subject matter (often called “101” or “Alice” motions). Judge Albright’s well-publicized judicial philosophy is that given a patent’s presumption of validity, such motions are appropriate only after claim construction discovery is completed and a Markman order is entered.