The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (in case citations, E.D. Tex.) is a federal court in the Fifth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit).
The District was established on February 21, 1857, with the division of the state into an Eastern and Western District.[1]
Organization of the court
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas is one of four federal judicial districts in Texas.[2] Court for the District is held at Beaumont, Lufkin, Marshall, Plano, Sherman, Texarkana, and Tyler.
The United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Texas represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court. As of May7,2023[update], the United States Attorney is Damien Diggs.
History
The oldest federal civil building in Texas, the 1861 Customs and Courthouse in Galveston, housed headquarters for the Eastern District of Texas between 1861–1891.Federal Courthouse in Galveston that housed the Eastern District court from 1891–1902, when the Southern District of Texas was created.
The first federal judge in Texas was John C. Watrous, who was appointed on May 26, 1846, and had previously served as Attorney General of the Republic of Texas. He was assigned to hold court in Galveston, at the time, the largest city in the state. As seat of the Texas Judicial District, the Galveston court had jurisdiction over the whole state.[4]
Patent litigation
The Eastern District of Texas currently[citation needed] hears the most patent cases in the country and has seen an increase in the number of cases filed relating to patent infringement, notably in the courts of Judge T. John Ward in the Marshall Division, Judge Leonard Davis in the Tyler Division, and Judge David Folsom in the Texarkana Division and now Judge J. Rodney Gilstrap in the Marshall Division and Judge Robert W. Schroeder III in the Texarkana Division, as well as Magistrate Judges Roy S. Payne, John Love and K. Nicole Mitchell. Perhaps because the district has a set of local rules for patent cases and relatively fast trial settings, patent plaintiffs have flocked to this small venue. In addition the proximity to larger cities (such as Dallas and Houston), along with a jury pool interested in protecting property rights, may attract patent cases to Marshall, Tyler, and Texarkana.
In 2003, there were 14 patent cases filed. In 2004, this number more than quadrupled to 59 patent cases filed. In 2006, the number of cases grew to an estimated 236.[5]
The district has been perceived to be a favorable jurisdiction for plaintiffs in patent infringement lawsuits, which win 88% of the time compared to a nationwide average of 68% in 2006,[6] even, according to some claims, in dubious cases (i.e. patent trolls).[7]
Between 2004 and 2011 the district presided over TiVo Inc. v. EchoStar Corp., involving the issues of patent infringement and contempt of court.
In 2009 Judge Leonard Davis, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, ordered a permanent injunction that "prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML," according to an announcement by the plaintiff, Toronto-based i4i Inc.[8]
In 2013, 24.5% of federal patent suits filed in the U.S. were filed in the Eastern District. Judges in this district have been found to grant requests for summary judgment of invalidity at a lower rate than the national average.[9]
The vast majority of the patent cases in the Eastern District of Texas are filed before or heard in the Marshall, Texas division by District Court Judge James Rodney Gilstrap and Magistrate Judge Roy S. Payne.[13] U.S. District Judge Robert W. Schroeder III in the Texarkana Division, and Magistrate Judges John Love and K. Nicole Mitchell hear the next highest number of patent cases in the District.
↑ Recess appointment; formally nominated on November 8, 1954, confirmed by the Senate on December 2, 1954, and received commission on December 3, 1954.
Chief judges
Chief judges have administrative responsibilities with respect to their district court. Unlike the Supreme Court, where one justice is specifically nominated to be chief, the office of chief judge rotates among the district court judges. To be chief, a judge must have been in active service on the court for at least one year, be under the age of 65, and have not previously served as chief judge.
A vacancy is filled by the judge highest in seniority among the group of qualified judges. The chief judge serves for a term of seven years, or until age 70, whichever occurs first. The age restrictions are waived if no members of the court would otherwise be qualified for the position.
When the office was created in 1948, the chief judge was the longest-serving judge who had not elected to retire, on what has since 1958 been known as senior status, or declined to serve as chief judge. After August 6, 1959, judges could not become or remain chief after turning 70 years old. The current rules have been in operation since October 1, 1982.
Succession of seats
Seat 1
Seat reassigned from the District of Texas on February 21, 1857 by 11Stat.164
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Alcatel-Lucent v. Microsoft Corp., also known as Lucent Technologies Inc. v. Gateway Inc., was a long-running patent infringement case between Alcatel-Lucent and Microsoft litigated in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California and appealed multiple times to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Alcatel-Lucent was awarded $1.53 billion in a final verdict in August 2007 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in San Diego. The damages award was reversed on appeal in September 2009, and the case was returned for a separate trial on the amount of damages.
T. John Ward is a retired United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. He is best known for the large number of patent infringement cases brought before his court in Marshall, Texas.
Leonard E. Davis is an American lawyer and former judge. He served as Chief Justice of the Twelfth Court of Appeals of Texas, from 2000-2002, and was nominated by George W. Bush on January 23, 2002 to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas until his retirement May 15th, 2015.
Vringo was a technology company that became involved in the worldwide patent wars. The company won a 2012 intellectual property lawsuit against Google, in which a U.S. District Court ordered Google to pay 1.36 percent of U.S. AdWords sales. Analysts estimated Vringo's judgment against Google to be worth over $1 billion. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned the District Court's ruling on appeal in August 2014 in a split 2-1 decision, which Intellectual Asset Magazine called "the most troubling case of 2014." Vringo appealed to the United States Supreme Court. Vringo also pursued worldwide litigation against ZTE Corporation in twelve countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Malaysia, India, Spain, Netherlands, Romania, China, Malaysia, Brazil and the United States. The high profile nature of the intellectual property suits filed by the firm against large corporations known for anti-patent tendencies has led some commentators to refer to the firm as a patent vulture or patent troll.
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Robert William Schroeder III is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Roy Steven Payne is currently a U.S. magistrate judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. He previously served as a U.S. magistrate judge in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana from 1987 to 2005.
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