I was on a panel the other day discussing patent reform, and a funny thing happened. While we disagreed about a number of aspects of patent reform, basically everyone on the panel agreed that it’s ridiculous for one district (i.e., the Eastern District of Texas) to host so much patent litigation.
Even those on the panel who didn’t like the current venue provision in the Innovation Act felt that it just needed some small tweaks in the language. They agreed with the basic approach of venue reform.
Venue reform is a clear winner with no strong opposition (except from parts of Texas and from patent trolls).
This seems like an easy victory, and it would have a big impact in shutting down patent trolls.
Even if nothing else got done on patents this Congress, venue reform should sail through. At the very least, it should be added to the Senate bill.