Federal Circuit Turns Away a Pair of Additional Petitions Arising from Judge Albright’s Courtroom

The Federal Circuit has denied two more petitions for writs of mandamus asking the appellate court to order Western District of Texas Judge Alan D. Albright to transfer cases before him elsewhere for convenience. In late January, the Federal Circuit turned away a similar petition from GM in litigation brought by Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV). Thus, as in the IV-GM suit, it looks like the case between Flypsi, Inc. (d/b/a Flyp) and Alphabet (Google) and the case between ViaSat and Western Digital will play out before Judge Albright, whose growing body of convenience transfer rulings—as now left undisturbed multiple times and as considered alongside that court’s solidifying pattern when it comes to claim construction—suggests a significant reason why the venue fight has become such a pivotal event for many cases landing there.