Chief Judge Fitzwater recently entered Special Order No. 3-287 (available here). The Order states that, when a patent case is filed in or transferred to the Northern District of Texas on or after September 1, 2011, the case will be assigned according to the civil case assignment procedure then in effect in that division. But, within seven days, the assigned judge may decline to accept the case and direct that the case be reassigned to a designated patent judge. The designated patent judges are Judges Lynn, Godbey, and Kinkeade. The Order notes that all Northern District of Texas Judges in the Dallas Division (except Judges Lynn, Godbey, and Kinkeade) have “advised that they intend to decline to accept [patent cases] for a period of at least one year, and that, if they later decide to accept [patent cases], they will notify the other district judges and the bar of their intentions.”
To summarize the Order, then, all patent cases filed in the Northern District of Texas (Dallas Division) on or after September 1, 2011 will be heard by either Judge Lynn, Judge Godbey, or Judge Kinkeade for at least the next year and thereafter until the bar hears otherwise from the other district judges. This is a very exciting development for the Northern District of Texas, and we expect patent filings in the Northern District of Texas to continue to increase.