OF FIRE ANTS AND CLAIM CONSTRUCTION: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF THE METEORIC RISE OF THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS AS A PREEMINENT FORUM FOR PATENT LITIGATION

Abstract

Forum shopping by patent litigants is nothing new. However, in recent years, there has been an increase in forum shopping by patentee plaintiffs. Because of this forum shopping phenomenon, the Eastern District of Texas, a technological backwater, is on pace to become the leading patent docket in the United States. This Article empirically analyzes the reasons for the popularity of the Eastern District among patentee plaintif and considers a number of possible legislative solutions to the problem of forum shopping gone awry.