The Federal Circuit case VE Holding Corp. v. Johnson Gas Appliance Co. broadened patent venue to be proper anywhere an accused product was sold: essentially any district in the country for most patent cases. However, instead of creating a distribution across the 94 district courts, in the years since VE Holding filings for patent cases became concentrated in just a few districts. In 2016, of the around 4,000 patent cases filed, more than half were filed in Delaware, the Northern District of California, the Northern District of Illinois, or the Eastern District of Texas.
Largely as a result of this concentration of patent cases, the concept of patent venue is under review both in the courts and in Congress. Each route has the potential to drastically change the location of patent cases in the near future.
Subscribers can read the full article, "Looking Ahead to 2017: Where Will Patent Venue Be Appropriate?"
