McKool Smith Principal Alan Whitehurst provided commentary to two Law360's articles on 2020 patent cases citing a report from Lex Machina. The first article "Fast Courts, Big Funders Kept Patent Suits Flowing in 2020" highlighted the patent litigation trends in 2020. Alan shared his experience, saying "Lawyers in this space, they're busier than ever before…. [The] increase is likely the combination of several factors that pushed companies hesitant to file patent cases to finally pull the trigger.” Read the full article here.
The second article, "Judge Albright Now Oversees 20% Of New Patent Cases," highlighted that in 2020 Judge Albright oversees the highest number of patent cases. The article also shared multiple attorneys’ experiences working with Judge Albright. Alan commented, "He gets the merits of the case out front, where for some patent owners, it's a sobering reality check. They can get to Markman and realize their case isn't as strong as they thought. For other defendants, it's a wake-up call, and they may have some liability here. But in either case, it's getting the merits out in front before getting into the costly discovery." Read the full article here.