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Convenience in the Eye of the Judicial Beholder

September 3, 2024

Western District of Texas Judge Robert L. Pitman just transferred a case filed by DH International Ltd. against Apple last September, for convenience, to the Northern District of California. In doing so, the court denied a motion for three months of venue discovery; found the most important factor (cost of attendance for willing witnesses) “weighs heavily toward transfer”, crediting “Apple’s contention that none of its relevant employees are in WDTX and that most of them are located in California” as “especially weighty”; and assessed the most speculative factor (court congestion) as tilting slightly in favor of transfer, noting that “recent time-to-trial statistics indicate that the median time-to-trial for patent cases is 526 days in the NDCA, but 827 days in this district”. That approach (and result) lands in stark relief against other recent transfer rulings from elsewhere in West Texas.


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