Judge Counts Pulled Further Ahead in Q2 as Judge Albright Shifted to Austin

Eastern District of Texas Judge Rodney Gilstrap, who served as his district’s chief judge until March 1, 2025, was once again the nation’s top district judge by a large margin—overseeing 19% of all new patent litigation in the second quarter of 2025.

Western District of Texas Judge Alan D. Albright, once the nation’s top patent judge, held a distant fifth place in Q2. Judge Albright, a former patent litigator, had previously amassed the bulk of the nation’s patent cases after openly and successfully seeking to attract such litigation to his courtroom. Plaintiffs could seek him out directly due to divisional filing rules that let plaintiffs file directly in a certain division, thus guaranteeing they would get Judge Albright, as Waco’s only district judge. However, this all changed due to a July 2022 case assignment order designed to reduce the concentration of patent cases before Judge Albright, by directing all Waco patent cases to be randomly assigned among a larger group of judges, including Judge Albright. His patent caseload has slimmed dramatically as a result.

Judge Albright is now poised to move on from Waco altogether: In early January 2025, he confirmed that he would be moving to the Austin Division to fill one of that division’s two vacancies, and that he had received signoff from the judges of the Western District and from the Fifth Circuit Judicial Council, with just the final signature of Chief Judge Alia Moses remaining. Judge Albright has stated that he would stay in Waco until his replacement is confirmed by the US Senate; while no one has yet been nominated, Judge Albright has endorsed Magistrate Judge Derek Gilliland for the role. Though Judge Albright nominally still remains in Waco, the bulk of the new patent cases assigned to him in Q2 were from Austin—and none were from Waco.

The remaining handful of Judge Albright’s Q2 cases were assigned to him with his consent by Midland-Odessa District Judge David Counts. Judge Counts, also a former patent litigator, had not previously attracted many patent cases but saw a marked rise in such litigation after he adopted a patent standing order based in large part on Judge Albright’s in the wake of the July 2022 case assignment order.

Notably, Judge Counts is the only judge in Midland-Odessa, where no special patent case assignment rules apply—allowing plaintiffs to seek out his courtroom in the same manner as they did Judge Albright’s.

They have clearly done so, with Judge Counts now overseeing the second-most new litigation in the nation this past quarter—including 68% of the litigation filed in West Texas in Q2.

For more on the key trends that shaped patent litigation in Q2 and the first half of 2025, see RPX’s second-quarter review.