Wyoming District Court

Court Profile: U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming

Date: 2026-05-02
Analyst: Senior U.S. Patent Litigation Analyst

Court Overview

The United States District Court for the District of Wyoming (D. Wyo.) is the sole federal district court for the state of Wyoming. As part of the Tenth Circuit, its appellate court for non-patent federal questions is the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, while patent-related appeals are directed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The court holds proceedings in Cheyenne, Casper, and Mammoth. The District of Wyoming has a very small patent docket compared to other federal districts. Recent dockets show only a handful of new patent infringement cases filed per year, indicating it is not a major venue for patent litigation.

Patent Docket Reputation

The District of Wyoming is not known as a specialized forum for patent litigation and has not developed a reputation as a "rocket docket" or a particularly plaintiff-friendly venue. Due to its low volume of patent cases, there is insufficient data to establish clear trends regarding time-to-trial, claim construction practices, or its handling of transfer motions. The caseload is not large enough to have attracted significant analysis from legal data firms regarding litigation outcomes.

Local Rules and Procedures

The District of Wyoming does not have a specific set of local rules tailored to patent cases, unlike courts with heavier patent dockets such as the Eastern District of Texas or the Northern District of California. Patent cases proceed under the standard Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the court's general local civil rules. Litigants should not expect specialized procedures like mandatory early disclosures of infringement and invalidity contentions or standing orders governing claim construction hearings, which are common in busier patent jurisdictions.

Notable Cases and Judges

The court's most prominent recent patent litigation involves a dispute over "forced reset trigger" (FRT) technology for firearms. The tracked cases, RARE BREED TRIGGERS, INC. et al. v. PEAK TACTICAL LLC (2:26-cv-00018) and a related case against Tactical Deployment Systems, are part of a broader litigation campaign by Rare Breed Triggers. In the Peak Tactical case, the court denied the plaintiff's motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in a February 2026 ruling, allowing the defendant to continue selling its competing product while the case proceeds. This ruling was seen as a significant early victory for the defendant in a closely watched industry dispute.

The District of Wyoming currently has four active Article III judges. The Peak Tactical case is assigned to Chief Judge Kelly H. Rankin, who was confirmed to the bench in March 2024. Other judges on the court include Senior Judge Nancy D. Freudenthal and Judge Alan B. Johnson. Given the low number of patent cases, none of the judges have an extensive public record of patent rulings from which to draw firm conclusions about their judicial approach to patent law.