Eastern District of Texas

The Eastern District of Texas is located in the Fifth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals. Patent claims in this district are appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Marshall, Texas, located in the Eastern District of Texas, has become "the unlikely patent litigation capital of America." (Texas Monthly) In 2002, 32 patent lawsuits were filed in the Eastern District. (New York Times) In 2015, the Eastern District of Texas received 2,540 patent litigation cases. This constitutes 43.6% of all patent litigation cases filed in the United States, which is more than the cases of all districts outside the top three combined (41.9%). (Lex Machina) According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the percentage of patent litigation cases in the most active districts continues to increase, leading to increased concentrations of patent litigation in the United States. From 2012 to 2015, 4,350 patent lawsuits were filed with Judge Rodney Gilstrap, which was 3,000 more cases than were filed with the next highest judge.