D. Del. (Judge Andrews)

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D. Del. — U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware (Judge Andrews)

Court overview. The District of Delaware sits in Wilmington (J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building, 844 N. King St.) and is the only federal district in Delaware, in the Third Circuit. It is a small court by judicial headcount but a top-tier patent venue: RPX data place it second nationally for overall patent litigation across 2024–2026 (roughly 12% of defendants added in 2024, ~23–25% by Q1–Q2 2026), behind only the Eastern District of Texas, and first for cases filed by operating companies. IAM/Docket Navigator reported Delaware handling about 22% of the national patent docket in 2021, and Delaware judges consistently rank among the busiest in the country for patent cases. On the pharmaceutical side, secondary analyses (DrugPatentWatch, citing 2024 data) put Delaware at ~42% of ANDA cases and ~37% of BPCIA/biosimilar cases—though New Jersey has overtaken it in ANDA filings.

Docket reputation. Delaware is not a "rocket docket" in the Eastern/Western District of Texas sense—it is faster and more predictable than most districts, with firm Rule 16 scheduling orders and trial dates typically set well in advance, but median time to trial has historically run around two to two-and-a-half years (Lex Machina, Docket Navigator). Its distinguishing feature is trial frequency: Lex Machina-era data show roughly 4% of Delaware patent cases reaching trial, the high end among major districts, with a substantial bench-trial component (typical of Hatch-Waxman practice) alongside a healthy jury docket. As a plaintiff-side venue its profile has shifted significantly since 2022: NPE filings fell sharply after Chief Judge Connolly's litigation-funding and ownership-disclosure standing orders, and IP Edge—formerly Delaware's dominant filer—stopped filing there (RPX). I did not find a reliably sourced, current grant-rate figure for §1404(a) transfer motions; Delaware applies the Third Circuit's Jumara framework, and outcomes vary by judge and case type.

Local rules and procedures. Delaware has no separate Patent Local Rules. Instead, the district's "Default Standard for Discovery, Including Discovery of Electronically Stored Information" (2011) supplies the patent-specific disclosure and contention framework, which most judges fold into form Rule 16 scheduling orders (e.g., Magistrate Judge Thynge's patent scheduling order). Typical sequence: initial infringement contentions, then initial invalidity contentions, then final infringement contentions 21 days after the claim construction order and final invalidity contentions 42 days after. Individual judges layer on requirements—notably Chief Judge Connolly's insistence on good cause to amend contentions. Practical fixtures include Local Rule 83.5(d), which requires Delaware-bar counsel to file all papers, and a district standing order on personal electronic devices (May 17, 2024).

Notable cases and trends. The tracked sample here is narrow and should be read as such: all 12 cases are Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. v. various defendants (GoPro, Sensormatic, Videology, Adesso, 3xlogic, DivioTec, Video Network Security, Vantage Robotics, MGM, Phytech, Adaptive Recognition, Fantasia Trading), filed 2021–2022 before Judge Andrews—a high-volume NPE campaign whose outcomes (several voluntary dismissals, several dismissals with prejudice, a few still active) are characteristic of that campaign rather than of the Delaware docket generally. Judge Andrews's more consequential public rulings in recent years have been on the defense/pharma side: In re Entresto (Sacubitril/Valsartan) Patent Litigation (20-md-2930-RGA), including his January 2026 summary judgment for Novartis against MSN on issue and claim preclusion as to U.S. Patent No. 8,101,659; and an August 27, 2025 interference trial opinion in RSB Spine v. DePuy Synthes finding no interference-in-fact (following a $12M jury verdict for RSB Spine in December 2022)—a rare district-court interference proceeding.

Judges. Delaware's patent docket is carried by four Article III district judges (supplemented by magistrate judges and visiting judges, which matters given the district's staffing strain—President Biden's December 2024 veto of the JUDGES Act, and competing 2025 bills HR 1702/HR 1929 that would add two Delaware judgeships). Those most identified with patent work in public analytics: Richard G. Andrews (bench 2011; ~213 active patent cases and 29 jury trials in Docket Navigator's 2022 snapshot, and the judge on all tracked cases here); Colm F. Connolly (bench 2018), now Chief Judge, known chiefly for the disclosure/litigation-funding standing orders and the resulting In re Omni Bridgeway discovery litigation; and Maryellen Noreika (bench 2018). Leonard P. Stark, previously Delaware's heaviest patent caseload, left for the Federal Circuit in March 2022, and Docket Navigator at the time showed he had the highest rate of patent-owner victories among his colleagues—openly characterized as possibly making the court more defense-friendly in his absence. Magistrate judges Burke, Hall, Fallon and Thynge have historically handled substantial patent work. I have not verified current case-specific win-rate analytics from Lex Machina or Unified Patents for any of these judges, so individual plaintiff/defendant leanings should not be inferred beyond the sources cited.