Record patent complaints filed at Texas courts, report shows
The number of patent complaints filed at Texas district courts reached a record level in November, a report from legal analytics firm Lex Machina has showed.
The total number of complaints filed was 851.
Lex Machina said the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas accounted for the majority of the complaints, with 467 being filed in the jurisdiction. Most of the filings were made between November 22 and 30.
The previous record number of filings throughout Texas was 684 in April 2014, and at the eastern district the previous record came in June 2015, when 354 lawsuits were instigated.
Recently, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) complained about the number of parties filing patent claims at the Texas eastern court.
In an amicus brief filed on October 23 in a dispute between Kraft and TC Heartland, the EFF said the high number of complaints is a result of the “absurd” situation of “forum selling” in the US.
In the dispute, TC Heartland requested that its wrangle be moved to the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana from the US District Court for the District of Delaware.
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is currently dealing with TC Heartland’s appeal to move the case.
