U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California: Patent Litigation Profile

The United States District Court for the Central District of California (C.D. Cal.) is the largest federal judicial district by population, serving over 19 million people in Southern and Central California. A part of the Ninth Circuit, with courthouses in Los Angeles, Santa Ana, and Riverside, the court has historically been one of the nation's busiest venues for patent litigation. For many years, it ranked in the top five districts for new patent case filings, though it saw a slight reduction in 2025, ranking sixth nationally with 191 new cases.

The Central District is not considered a "rocket docket" like the Eastern District of Virginia, but its time-to-trial for patent cases is generally in line with the national average. The median time to trial was recently reported as 31 months, slightly above the 29-month national average. The court has a reputation for being more willing than the national average to grant dispositive motions. For instance, the district grants 27.1% of summary judgment motions related to patent infringement or validity, compared to the 22.5% national average. It also shows a higher-than-average grant rate for motions to dismiss at the pleadings stage and for motions to transfer venue.

Unlike patent-heavy districts such as the Northern District of California or the Eastern District of Texas, the Central District has not adopted district-wide local patent rules. This grants judges flexibility in managing their cases, though some individual judges have adopted their own standing patent rules or choose to apply the patent local rules from the Northern District of California. From 2011 until its termination in March 2024, the court participated in the Patent Pilot Program, which funneled a majority of patent cases to a group of volunteer judges to build expertise. With the program's end, all patent cases are now randomly assigned among the district's 28 judgeships.

The district has handled a number of high-stakes patent disputes. Notable recent cases include Masimo Corp. v. Apple, Inc., where a jury awarded Masimo $634 million in November 2025 related to pulse-oximetry technology in the Apple Watch, and California Institute of Technology v. Broadcom Ltd., which resulted in a significant jury verdict. Prominent judges with experience in patent litigation include Judge James V. Selna, who has presided over major patent trials, and Judge John W. Holcomb, a former patent litigator appointed to the bench. The tracked case, Disintermedation Services Inc. v. GoDaddy.com, LLC, is one of the many patent infringement suits filed in this active district.