U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas (SDTX) serves the southeastern part of Texas, with its headquarters in Houston and additional divisions in Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Galveston, Laredo, McAllen, and Victoria. It is part of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Following the Supreme Court's TC Heartland decision in 2017, which limited patent venue options, the SDTX experienced a significant increase in patent infringement filings, stepping into the top ten venues for patent cases nationwide by 2020. While not historically known as a "rocket docket" in the vein of the Eastern District of Texas's past reputation or the Western District of Texas under Judge Albright, the court saw an almost 50% increase in patent cases in 2020 compared to 2018 and 2019.

The SDTX has its own comprehensive "Rules of Practice for Patent Cases," initially effective January 1, 2008, and amended in April 2022. These local patent rules govern various aspects of patent litigation, including detailed schedules for infringement and invalidity contentions, claim term disclosures, and claim construction briefing and hearings. The rules outline specific deadlines for exchanging proposed terms and preliminary claim constructions, with a joint claim construction and prehearing statement also required. Judges retain discretion to modify these schedules based on case complexity.

The court's active patent docket includes several notable cases. Shanghai Jinko Green Energy Enterprise Management Co LTD et al. v. Waaree Energies Limited et al. was filed in February 2025, alleging infringement of n-type TOPCon solar panel technology, a significant development in the solar energy sector. Another active case is Alpha Modus Corp. v. Walmart Inc., part of a broader patent enforcement effort by Alpha Modus related to AI-driven retail technologies concerning real-time consumer behavior analysis and smart retail displays. Additionally, Authentixx LLC v. Hartman Newspapers, L.P., filed in June 2025, involves a web security patent for authenticating electronic content. Past rulings include a December 2023 order by Magistrate Judge Sam Sheldon in C&M Oilfield Rentals, LLC v. Ensign US S. Drilling LLC, which denied a motion to stay pending inter partes review and construed certain claims in a dispute over oilfield lighting equipment patents.

While specific patent-focused judges with widely published individual dockets akin to the Western District of Texas are not prominently highlighted in available public reports for the SDTX, judges throughout the district handle patent cases under the court's local rules. Chief Judge Randy Crane leads the court, and Judge George C. Hanks Jr. is a district judge in the Houston Division. Magistrate Judge Sam Sheldon has presided over substantive patent motions, as seen in the C&M Oilfield Rentals case.