‘Innovative’ district judge Ronald Whyte steps down
Senior District Judge Ronald Whyte has stepped down from the bench and assumed inactive status.
Whyte was appointed to the US District Court for the Northern District of California in 1992.
The California court said in a statement that Whyte “emerged as a leading expert on patent and technology litigation”.
“He led the development of model jury instructions and innovative patent rules and model protective orders, and lectured on intellectual property litigation nationally,” added the statement.
Before his appointment to the federal bench, Whyte served as judge of the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara from 1989 to 1992.
Chief Judge Phyllis Hamilton said: “Judge Whyte has anchored the San Jose division of our court for nearly a quarter century as a colleague of vast ability who did so much for the court above and beyond managing his substantial caseload.”
She added that Whyte helped the court deliver “outstanding, innovative” service in IP litigation.
“His outstanding accomplishments in the fields of patent and IP litigation are all the more remarkable for the fact that, like all federal judges, he has been a generalist with a large caseload comprising the full scope of case types filed in our court. We will miss him greatly,” said Hamilton.
