W.D. Tex. (Judge Alan D. Albright)

I'll verify the court's current profile, docket data, and recent developments before writing.

Let me verify the standing orders, transfer practice, and notable rulings.

Let me verify notable verdicts, the current judge roster, and the tracked case.

W.D. Tex. — Patent Litigation Profile

Court overview. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas sits in the Fifth Circuit and is one of the largest districts geographically, with divisions at Waco, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, Midland-Odessa, Del Rio and Pecos. Its patent docket is a creation of the last decade: filings climbed from roughly 85 patent cases in 2017 to 989 in 2021 — about a quarter of all U.S. patent filings — making it the nation's busiest patent venue for two consecutive years (RPX; Lex Machina; Anderson & Gugliuzza, 71 Duke L.J. 419). After the Waco case-assignment reforms described below, the district fell to second place behind the Eastern District of Texas in 2023 (RPX). Current docket size fluctuates quarter to quarter; any single-year figure should be checked against RPX or Lex Machina's latest quarterly data, as the numbers have moved sharply since 2022.

Patent docket reputation. The W.D. Tex. has functioned as an expedited docket, though the "rocket docket" label is more precisely a Judge Albright phenomenon than a district-wide one. Venue-selection pressure was driven by three features documented in the empirical literature (Helmers, Ganglmair & Love, Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 2026): early trial settings in cases assigned to Judge Albright, a relatively low rate of stays pending PTAB review, and a relatively low rate of early § 101 invalidation. On transfer practice, the Federal Circuit repeatedly granted mandamus against Judge Albright's § 1404(a) denials — roughly 18 reversals in 2021 alone, six in 2022, and two in 2023 — the most consequential being In re Google LLC, 58 F.4th 1379 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 1, 2023), which held that court-congestion and time-to-trial differences get no weight where the patentee is an NPE with no product-market stake. Earlier reversals include In re Apple, 979 F.3d 1332, In re Samsung, 2 F.4th 1371, In re Juniper, 14 F.4th 1313, and In re Atlassian. The Fifth Circuit lent support to that approach in In re TikTok (2023), a copyright mandamus applying similar reasoning. Trials are predominantly jury trials; Lex Machina's 2024 addendum found that for cases terminated 2019–2023, Albright cases reached Markman at a median of ~315 days (comparable to Judge Gilstrap's ~358) but reached summary judgment and trial at medians over 700 days — longer than Gilstrap's over-500-day medians. Time-to-trial averages for the district have been reported at roughly 29 months for 2021–2025 (Sedona Conference), well ahead of Delaware, New Jersey and California.

Local rules and procedures. The Western District of Texas has no local patent rules; practice is governed by individual judges' standing orders (Sedona Conference, WG10). Judge Albright's Order Governing Proceedings (OGP) – Patent Cases is the template. Successive versions issued March 7, 2022, January 23, 2024 and March 5, 2025 (the current Austin Division version is posted on the court's website). Signature features: a Case Readiness Status Report triggering a Case Management Conference, with Markman initially set ~23 weeks after the CMC and trial generally targeted within about a year of Markman; all merits discovery stayed until after Markman except venue, jurisdictional and claim-construction discovery; and a mandatory notice within two weeks of any IPR filing identifying expected institution and final-written-decision dates. Venue/jurisdictional discovery is capped presumptively at 5 interrogatories, 10 requests for production and 10 hours of deposition testimony, with responses due in 20 days and completion within 10 weeks of the initial venue motion. Transfer motions must be filed within three weeks of the CMC or eight weeks of service, and movants must file status reports if the motion remains unresolved. Discovery disputes are subject to a standing referral to Magistrate Judge Derek Gilliland in Waco. Judge David Counts in Midland-Odessa adopted a substantially Albright-based standing order in August 2022.

Notable cases and rulings. The marquee matter is VLSI Technology LLC v. Intel Corp., tried to a Waco jury before Judge Albright in 2021, which produced a $2.18 billion verdict ($1.5B on the '373 patent, $675M on the '759 patent) — one of the largest patent verdicts in U.S. history. On December 4, 2023, the Federal Circuit affirmed infringement of the '373 patent, reversed the '759 infringement judgment, vacated the damages award and remanded for a new damages trial, and reversed the denial of Intel's motion to add a license defense (VLSI Tech. LLC v. Intel Corp., No. 2022-1906). Intel prevailed in a separate Waco trial against a >$3 billion VLSI demand, while a separate Austin jury awarded VLSI roughly $949 million. Other frequently cited W.D. Tex. matters include Sonos v. Google and various In re Google/Jawbone mandamus proceedings. The tracked case in this site's data, CommWorks Solutions, LLC v. Comcast Corp. et al. (filed 2021-04-15, active), is a Waco-filed cable/ISP assertion campaign; I could not independently verify its procedural posture from the public sources reviewed, so no further detail is asserted here.

Judges. Judge Alan D. Albright (appointed 2018) is the central figure — a former patent litigator who was, before the 2022 reforms, the nation's busiest patent judge, handling roughly 937 patent cases in 2021 (Lex Machina). He ranked fourth nationally for 2024 and fell out of the top five from Q2 2024, holding just 1–2% of national patent filings in recent quarters (RPX). He confirmed in December 2024 that he would move to the Austin Division. Judge David Counts (Midland-Odessa) adopted an Albright-style standing order and rose to the number-two national patent judge position by Q1 2025 (~6% share), largely in NPE cases (RPX); his track record on stays and transfers is not yet established. Judge Robert L. Pitman (Austin) handled that division's patent docket largely alone before Judge Albright's arrival. Chief Judge Alia Moses issued the May 30, 2024 revised assignment order; former Chief Judge Orlando L. Garcia issued the original July 25, 2022 order. Magistrate Judge Derek Gilliland handles Waco discovery referrals. Note that published Lex Machina/RPX analysis has characterized Albright's courtroom procedures as attracting NPE plaintiffs, but this profile does not characterize individual judges as plaintiff- or defendant-friendly beyond what those published sources state.

Caveat on sourcing: Judge counts, division assignments and case-assignment orders have changed repeatedly since 2022, and Q-by-Q docket shares shift materially. Figures above should be re-verified against the court's own standing-order page (txwd.uscourts.gov), AOUSC statistics, and current RPX/Lex Machina reporting before being relied on for a filing decision.