I just received an e-mail from LegalMetric which noted that in 2011 the top six judges in terms of patent cases filed were:
- Judge Davis (ED Tex)
- Judge Folsom (ED Tex)
- Judge Sleet (Delaware)
- Judge Stark (Delaware)
- Judge Robinson (Delaware)
- Judge Gilstrap (ED Tex)
Each of the judges had over 100 patent cases assigned in 2011, and Judge Davis had over 200. The average number of patent cases filed in 2011 per active district judge nationwide is slightly over ... three (3).
I'm a little curious how the statistics with respect to Judges Folsom and Gilstrap were calculated - recall that Judge Folsom had a couple hundred (I am guesstimating) of Judge Ward and Judge Everingham's patent cases added to his existing Marshall and Texarkana dockets in October when Judges Ward and Everingham left the bench, and then in late December he referred those cases to Judge Gilstrap. So were those included for both judges as "2011" cases (when most were actually filed before 2011) just because the judges received them in 2011? Or were they only credited to Judge Gilstrap? I ask just because we might be comparing apples to oranges here because Judge Davis and the three Delaware judges would be counting only new 2011 patent filings, while the numbers for Judges Folsom and Gilstrap might be counting 2011 filings plus the Ward/Everingham entire dockets - as to each.
I don't have the study, so if anyone does, please let me know how these were counted up. I suspect they were calculated correctly as cases on each judge's docket which were filed with that judge, or transferred to and remained with that judge, in 2011, but I'm just curious.
Update: Greg Upchurch with LegalMetric confirmed this morning that my guess in the previous sentence is correct. They counted all cases filed in 2011 as indicated by the filing date in PACER and counted them as assigned to a judge if they were assigned to that particular judge the first week in 2012. So it is an apples to apples comparison. Thanks to Greg for the confirmation.
