Patent Suit Filings Plunge in East Texas Following Supreme Court Ruling
New lawsuits are down — way down — in the mostly rural district that was once the national hotspot for patent disputes, reports Ars Technica, citing a study by IP litigation research company Lex Machina.
In a case called TC Heartland, in May, the Supreme Court sharply limited where patent owners can choose to file their lawsuits.
Joe Mullin writes that Lex Machina compared patent filings in the 90 days before the TC Heartland decision came down on May 22 to the 90-day period directly after the decision. Before the ruling, 377 patent lawsuits were filed in the Eastern District of Texas. After TC Heartland, just 129 cases were filed in a similar period.
“Much of that litigation seems to have moved to Delaware, where many national firms are incorporated due to favorable tax laws,” Mullin writes. “Delaware’s single judicial district had 153 patent lawsuits in the period before TC Heartland, but that shot up to 263 lawsuits in the period after the decision.”
Read the Ars Technica article.