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Chief Justice John Roberts poses during a group photo of the Justices at the Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., April 23, 2021. Erin Schaff/Pool via REUTERS
(Reuters) – In a year-end report on the federal judiciary, U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts said he would direct the Judicial Conference of the United States to address how venue is chosen for patent cases.
Calling the issue "arcane but important," Roberts acknowledged concerns that patent plaintiffs are funneling cases into a Waco, Texas federal court, and promised the Judicial Conference would work with Congress to make changes if needed.
The ranking members of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, had asked Roberts in November to review potential patent forum shopping, citing the "extreme concentration of patent litigation" in U.S. District Judge Alan Albright's court and the "unseemly and inappropriate conduct that has accompanied this phenomenon."
The senators said nearly 25% of all U.S. patent litigation is pending before Albright, and that he has solicited cases at lawyers' meetings and "repeatedly ignored binding case law" in denying transfer motions, among other things.
Critics say Albright's patent-owner friendly policies attract alleged "patent trolls" to his court.
Roberts' Fridayreport, which also addressed other issues in the federal judiciary, noted the senators' concern that case assignment procedures "might, in effect, enable the plaintiff to select a particular judge to hear a case." The senators said those who sue in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas can request to have their cases heard in a specific division, effectively allowing plaintiffs to choose Albright, the only permanent judge in the Waco division.
Roberts said in the report that the issue involves "two important and sometimes competing values": the benefit of random case assignment and the need for litigants to be "served by federal judges tied to their communities."
"Reconciling these values is important to public confidence in the courts," Roberts said.
The report said that a Judicial Conference committee would review the venue issue and report back, and that "self-governing bodies of judges from the front lines" are in the best position to study and address the issue.
Read more:
U.S. Chief Justice says judges need 'rigorous' training on stock-trading rules
Senators slam Albright over 'extreme concentration' of patent cases
Texas' busiest patent judge shows no signs of slowing down
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Washington-based correspondent covering court cases, trends, and other developments in intellectual property law, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. Previous experience at Bloomberg Law, Thomson Reuters Practical Law and work as an attorney.
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