As we previously noted, the Northern District of Texas is participating in a patent pilot program, whereby three judges in the Northern District of Texas (Judges Lynn, Godbey and Kinkeade) are hearing all patent cases filed in the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.
Judge Means (of the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division) recently issued an order (available here) in the Williams-Pyro v. Warren Watts case, notifying the parties that “that the Northern District of Texas has formed a patent panel of judges (Judges Kinkeade, Godbey, and Lynn) sitting in the Dallas division who are acquiring expertise in patent law and litigation.” Judge Means further stated that, “[t]his case will be transferred to a randomly selected judge of that panel if the parties jointly so request in a motion filed no later than September 21, 2012. If no such request is filed by that date, the case will remain on the “Y” docket in the Fort Worth division.” So, the bottom line is that, if you want Judge Lynn, Kinkeade or Godbey hearing your patent infringement case, and you’re not sure if your defendant agrees with you, it’s best to file the case in the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, rather than the Fort Worth Division, because it seems, at least in Judge Means’ court, that any party has the ability to prevent the patent case from being assigned to one of the patent pilot program judges.