I'm not in patent lit so I'm an outsider to all of this, but I've been sort of following this whole saga out of general interest. Am I missing something, or is he engaging in pretty open corruption?
Inviting patent trolls to file in his court, refusing to grant transfers, setting all kinds of records for getting writs granted against him is all the immediately obvious stuff, but there seems to be a lot of other weirdness going on that looks super shady. It sounds like he's been lobbying for additional magistrates in Waco solely to support him, then filling his slots with his buddies, and he also apparently is funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees per year to a former law clerk and a colleague of his as court appointed "technical advisers":
https://www.law.com/texaslawyer/2021/08 ... l-adviser/
Like I said, I'm an outsider to all this, so maybe I don't get it. But this sure looks to me like pretty open and wanton abuse. Does anyone have more insight? Has anyone heard rumblings from within the judiciary about it? I'm aware that there have been bipartisan calls from Congress to investigate him, though they don't explicitly name him.
What is happening with Albright in WDTX? Forum
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Re: What is happening with Albright in WDTX?
Transfer fights, mandamus, rocket dockets, resulting complaints from politicians friendly to tech companies, and heavy use of magistrates are nothing new in top patent lit venues. Tbh I’d be shocked if Albright didn’t need more patent-specialist magistrates. The earlier EDTX venue fights even eventually ended up at SCOTUS in TC Heartland. The article says technical advisors are standard practice in EDTX. And special masters, which seem somewhat similar, are a thing—I’m pretty sure Katherine Forrest and Barbara Jones have done it since leaving the bench for private practice for example.
It’s also worth noting that patent lit is heavily concentrated in general—EDTX, WDTX, NDCA, and D Del have a massive share. The problem is that it’s so demanding and procedurally unique that most judges hate it. We probably really need a bankruptcy court-style system with patent judges instead of having like six specialist judges and their magistrates oversee 50% of the country’s complex patent lit, which seems administratively unsustainable.
It’s also worth noting that patent lit is heavily concentrated in general—EDTX, WDTX, NDCA, and D Del have a massive share. The problem is that it’s so demanding and procedurally unique that most judges hate it. We probably really need a bankruptcy court-style system with patent judges instead of having like six specialist judges and their magistrates oversee 50% of the country’s complex patent lit, which seems administratively unsustainable.
