Western District of Texas Patent Litigation Post-Albright

The Western District of Texas is no longer the near-automatic patent venue it was five years ago, and Judge Alan Albright’s retirement confirms that shift rather than causing it. For a small-business patent plaintiff deciding where to file, Western District of Texas patent litigation in 2026 still offers a quick schedule and judges comfortable with technical cases. What it no longer offers is one predictable judge. Albright stepped down from the bench on August 31, 2026, and joined A&O Shearman’s Austin office as a partner. The docket he built is now spread across roughly a dozen judges. That single fact changes how you should think about filing there.

The Judge Who Built a Patent Hotspot

When Albright took the Waco bench in 2018, the district was a backwater for patent suits. It saw about 90 patent cases that year, roughly 2.5% of the national total. Two years later it was the busiest patent court in the country. By 2020 he was hearing nearly 800 new patent cases, about 20% of all patent cases filed in the United States. At his peak he was drawing close to 25% of every new patent suit in the nation, more than any other judge in the country.

He did it on purpose. Albright published detailed standing orders, set aggressive trial dates, rarely paused a case while the Patent Office reviewed the patent, and made it hard to transfer a suit out of Waco. Plaintiffs loved the speed. Accused infringers, most of them large technology companies, spent years trying to get out. That tension is what eventually reshaped the district.

Why the Venue Changed Before He Left

The pullback started in 2022, not this summer. In July 2022 the Western District’s chief judge issued an order requiring new Waco patent cases to be assigned at random among a dozen judges across the district, a direct response to concerns about forum shopping. A complaint filed in Waco could land in Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, or Midland-Odessa. Each of those judges runs a different schedule.

The Federal Circuit had already been chipping away at the other pillar. In a run of mandamus rulings it forced Albright to transfer cases to more convenient forums, and it criticized how quickly he had denied those motions. Layered on top sits the venue statute itself. Under TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods, decided in 2017, a patent suit can only be filed where the defendant is incorporated or has a regular, established place of business. That rule already narrowed who could be sued in Texas, well before the assignment order landed. His departure only removes the last reason many plaintiffs filed in Waco specifically, which was the near-certainty of drawing him.

What Western District of Texas Patent Litigation in 2026 Actually Looks Like

Here is the honest picture. The district still handles a large volume of patent cases, and its judges still move faster than most federal courts. What is gone is predictability about who hears your case and how they run it. Albright’s exit is expected to reverberate through the Texas patent docket for years, because his successors have their own differing appetites for early motions and for stays pending Patent Office review.

Four things that changed for plaintiffs

A few practical consequences follow for anyone weighing the district:

• Judge assignment is now a lottery. You cannot count on the Albright playbook of fast trials and few stays. Some judges in the district grant stays readily, which can delay your case by two years or more.
• Midland-Odessa offers more certainty. Cases filed in that division are still heard by a single Article III judge, David Counts, so plaintiffs seeking a predictable forum have watched that courthouse closely.
• Speed is no longer a given. The district’s median time to trial varies sharply by judge now, so the old marketing line about a Waco rocket docket no longer describes every case.
• Transfer risk persists. If your defendant’s real operations sit in California or New York, expect a serious motion to move the case there.

What This Means for a Small-Business Patent Plaintiff

If you are an inventor or a small company holding a patent you believe is infringed, the venue decision should now come after two earlier questions, not before them. First, is the patent itself strong enough to survive the challenge it will face? A fast docket does you no good if the claims are broad enough to be invalidated, a risk we cover in our guide to enforceable claim scope for smaller inventors. Second, do you actually hold the right form of protection for what was taken? Founders still confuse the three federal regimes, and the difference matters before any filing, as we lay out in trademark versus copyright versus patent for small business.

Once those are settled, venue becomes a tactical call. Where does the defendant have a real, established place of business? Which division and judge fit the pace and the motion practice your case can withstand? For a smaller plaintiff, the wrong forum can mean an early stay that drains cash before the merits are ever heard.

Waco Is No Longer a Shortcut

The Western District of Texas remains a credible and often fast venue in 2026. What made it special, one judge with a known and plaintiff-friendly playbook, has moved to the other side of the table. If you are planning or facing a patent suit and want a clear read on where to file and whether your patent can carry the fight, that is worth a focused conversation before a complaint is drafted.