Western District of Texas Judge Alan D. Albright has replaced an August 29, 2022 order with a September 9, 2022 order, announcing in each that “speculation and incomplete discovery often plagues early transfer motions”. The court explained that its current general case schedule, modified in response to feedback from the Federal Circuit, opens venue discovery automatically upon the filing of a motion to transfer, with claim construction hearings (typically scheduled early) often delayed to comply with the mandate that transfer consideration should precede any turn to substantive issues in the case (like claim construction). Per Judge Albright, “[p]arties then began abusing this process”, “strategically wait[ing] to file their transfer motions to delay the case”. Comparing defendants’ conduct during venue discovery, Judge Albright then handed down a new scheduling framework for the XR Communications, LLC (d/b/a Vivato Technologies) case before him, one that places venue consideration after the close of general fact discovery but still before Markman.