LIT COMMENTARY
AUG 1, 2022
Change can happen in Texas Courts.
Texas federal Judge Alan Albright having that much power over IP cases brought scrutiny from lawmakers and Chief Justice John Roberts. The matter came to a head when a new policy was announced to randomly assign patent cases to one of 12 judges. https://t.co/hby9McZuwF
— lawsinusa (@lawsinusa) August 1, 2022
Senators slam Albright over ‘extreme concentration’ of patent cases
NOV 3, 2021 | REPUBLISHED BY LIT: NOV 4, 2021
New post: Who is US District Judge Alan Albright, W.D. Texas and Why is He Violating His Judicial Oath? https://t.co/Mdw6SqEfWG
— LawsInTexas (@lawsintexasusa) July 14, 2021
A bipartisan pair of U.S. senators have accused U.S. District Judge Alan Albright of misusing his power to make his Waco, Texas court a hotbed for patent litigation, in a letter to U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts.
Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont in their Tuesday letter criticized the “extreme concentration of patent litigation” in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas and the “unseemly and inappropriate conduct that has accompanied this phenomenon.”
Leahy and Tillis are the chair and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property. The senators didn’t mention Albright by name in the body of the letter, but refer to him in several footnotes.
Albright didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Critics say Albright’s policies attract alleged “patent trolls,” as individuals and companies that generate revenue by suing over patents instead of actually making products have been called, to his court.
Albright told Reuters earlier this year that he considered negative perceptions of his court to be “pretty much from outside the bubble.”
The senators’ letter said that “roughly 25%” of all U.S. patent litigation is pending before Albright, and that he has “openly solicited cases” at lawyers’ meetings, urged patent owners to sue in Waco, and “repeatedly ignored binding case law” in denying transfer motions.
The senators said the Federal Circuit has been “compelled to correct his clear and egregious abuses of discretion” on transfers at least 15 times in the past two years.
Is it appropriate or ominous that SCOTUS returns today and @goodwinlaw and @CFPBDirector @cfpb are due a reply at CA11 re the conspiracy to commit #ElderAbuse and Fraud in COLLUSION WITH lyin’ Senior Judge Kenneth A. Marra in Burke v Ocwen 21-12160 https://t.co/Kt38mFhHcT
— LawsInTexas (@lawsintexasusa) October 4, 2021
Those who sue in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas can request to have their cases heard in a specific division, allowing plaintiffs to effectively choose Albright, the only permanent judge in Waco, as their judge, the letter said.
The letter asked Roberts to direct the Judicial Conference of the United States, the federal court system’s policymaking body, to study the “absence of adequate rules” about assigning patent cases within a district and the “actual and potential abuses that the present situation has enabled,” and to consider and implement reforms.
The senators gave a deadline of May 1, 2022 for the study.
Leahy declined to comment on the letter, and Tillis didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fifth Circuit: “Acceleration Abandoned. But We Already Foreclosed The Waldens Home in 2021”
This case is a clear example of what LIT continuously highlights. Foreclosure mill counsel are duplicating cases and fees in foreclosures.
PHH Mortgage Corporation and Foreclosure Mill Counsel The Catholic Bandit v. Nancy Patton of Waco, Texas
The good news is the Catholic Bandit doesn’t need a reminder set to submit any motion for attorney fees, Judge Alan Abright will remind him.
BDF’s Complaint against the Kings On Behalf of US Bank in Judge Albright’s Chambers On Silent Mode
The last entry on the docket was filed July 5, 2021. There has been no movement as confirmed by downloading docket today Feb 10, 2022.
