Civil Procedure
5th Circuit Ruling Likely to Nix IP Rocket Docket in Texas
Posted Oct 14, 2008, 06:51 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
An en banc ruling by a federal appeals court in a case involving a car crash is likely to put a crimp in the intellectual property “rocket docket” in the Eastern District of Texas.
The ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Volkswagen was entitled to transfer a product liability case stemming from a car crash from the Eastern District of Texas to Dallas, where the accident took place, the Recorder reports.
The decision is likely to affect patent lawsuits regularly filed in the Eastern District, which has become known as a plaintiff-friendly venue, according to the Recorder and a story in the Daily Journal (sub. req.). Judges had allowed patent cases to be filed and heard there, as long as the targeted product was sold in the district.
Edward Reines, a patent litigator with Weil, Gotshal & Manges, told the Recorder that patent suits filed in the Eastern District may be transferred to other jurisdictions as a result of the ruling. “I think there will be a lot more successful transfer motions,” he said.
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