Last September, Texas plaintiff Lower48 IP LLC accused Shopify (6:22-cv-00997) of infringing four patents generally related to database organization and data representation through the provision of a long list of products and services using the GraphQL query language. Lower48 IP filed the complaint in the Western District of Texas, with initially presiding District Judge Frank Montalvo (identified under that court’s recently instated random assignment policy) swapped out for District Judge David Alan Ezra roughly within a week. As required, Lower48 IP disclosed to the court parent Lower48 Analytics, Inc., “a data analysis and portfolio management services provider to the oil and gas industry” formed in Texas in July 2017, but Shopify has asked Judge Ezra to consider imposing the heightened disclosure rules that Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly is enforcing in his Delaware courtroom in this West Texas case—to compel Lower48 IP “to identify all third-party interests in this action, including the identity of any individuals or entities that have financial interests in the outcome of this litigation, such as investors or litigation funders, and the scope of those interests”. Per Shopify, such heightened disclosure is “essential for determining whether there is a conflict of interest between any party and the Court”.