Changes

The Eastern District of Texas began to rise in prominence due to the patent monetization strategy that Texas Instruments used in the 1980s to save itself from bankruptcy. [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-01-13/kodak-mines-patents-for-cash-copying-texas-instruments (Bloomberg)] By the 1990s, Texas Instruments was earning more money from patent litigation than it was earning from operations. [http://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/patently-unfair/ (Texas Monthly)] To maintain its profits, Texas Instruments had to continue using the court to extract royalties from those using their patents without permission. However, criminal cases had begun impeding speedy trials in Dallas, where Texas Instruments was based, so it looked toward Marshall, where criminal cases only made up 10 percent of the docket.[http://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/patently-unfair/ (Texas Monthly)]