Uniloc 2017 LLC v. Apple Inc. DC CAFC

The COVID-19 pandemic has led most of the nation’s top patent venues to push scheduled jury trials back due to public health risks, with the notable exception of Texas. While District Judge Rodney Gilstrap of the state’s Eastern District recently halted jury trials after resuming them in August, District Judge Alan D. Albright of the Western District has not done so—even moving a scheduled trial from Austin, where the courthouse remains closed, to Waco, in an attempt to proceed with a scheduled January trial between VLSI Technology LLC and Intel. However, the Federal Circuit ruled on December 23 that Judge Albright moved the trial without proper authority and that doing so would require a complete convenience analysis to determine whether the entire case could be transferred to Waco. On December 31, Judge Albright granted plaintiff VLSI’s emergency motion for such a transfer, also announcing that he would push the trial back to mid-February to give Intel time to appeal.

The Western District of Texas has seen a surge in patent litigation since the September 2018 confirmation of District Judge Alan D. Albright, who has taken active steps to attract patent litigants to his district—in part through a standing order implementing rules designed to appeal to both plaintiffs and defendants. However, Judge Albright has taken a markedly restrictive approach with certain types of dispositive motions, including patent eligibility challenges and motions to transfer for convenience. Apple has now challenged Judge Albright’s handling of the latter in litigation brought by Fortress Investment Group LLC subsidiary Uniloc 2017 LLC, arguing in a June 16 mandamus petition filed with the Federal Circuit that the manner in which Judge Albright balances the applicable factors make convenience transfers “[e]ffectively [u]navailable” in the Western District. This case, Apple asserts, is “part of a trend”, as “[i]n his nearly two years on the bench, Judge Albright has never granted” a transfer out of his district on convenience grounds.