Changes

Marshall, Texas, located in the Eastern District of Texas, has become "the unlikely patent litigation capital of America" [http://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/patently-unfair/ (Texas Monthly)] and has gained a reputation for being a "rocket docket" for patent cases. [https://www.technologyreview.com/s/405259/a-haven-for-patent-pirates/ (MIT Technology Review)] However, this "rocket docket" claim is no longer true, as it takes two to three years on average for a patent suit to reach trial in the Eastern District of Texas, compared to around a year in Eastern Virginia. [http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/01/east-texas-courts-are-back-on-top-for-patent-lawsuits/ (Ars Technica)] In 2002, 32 patent lawsuits were filed in the Eastern District. [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/business/24ward.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin (New York Times)] In 2015, the Eastern District of Texas received 2,540 patent litigation cases. This constitutes 43.6% of all patent litigation cases filed in the United States, which is more than the cases of all districts outside the top three combined (41.9%). [https://lexmachina.com/lex-machina-2015-end-of-year-trends/ (Lex Machina)] According to [https://www.pwc.com/us/en/forensic-services/publications/assets/2015-pwc-patent-litigation-study.pdf PricewaterhouseCoopers], the percentage of patent litigation cases in the most active districts continues to increase, leading to increased concentrations of patent litigation in certain districts of the United States. From 2012 to 2015, 4,350 patent lawsuits were filed with Judge Rodney Gilstrap, which was 3,000 more cases than were filed with the next highest judge.