Last Week in Texas with Michael Smith – BCLT

Another Texas IP Roundup

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I enjoyed talking about the latest news about Texas IP cases in federal court today with Wayne Stacy on B-CLE. In today’s episode – which you can watch here free and get CLE credit – we talked:

WDTX Case Assignments – With the changes in case assignments and the retirement of Judge Yeakel, things are changing in the Western District of Texas. 

Venue Rules – Judge Albright’s Atlas case gives us an interesting analysis of the inevitable collisions between Fifth Circuit cases and Federal Circuit cases.  It seems clear that court congestion is no longer considered relevant when the plaintiff is a non-practicing entity.

Remedies – two remedies cases–USAA and US Silica–provide great reading and a roadmap for challenging damages and seeking a permanent injunction.

JMOLs – Finally, the court gives us a great explanation of Rule 50(a) and the de minimis exception.  For those looking to preserve their appeals, this is a must read.

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Texas IP Roundup – March 2023

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Join us this upcoming Tuesday, March 28 at 3:00 p.m. Central, Texas time, for another B-CLE live webcast about what is going on in IP cases in Texas federal courts. Wayne Stacy and I will go over the key cases I have selected from the past month to discuss. In this episode, we discuss some recent evidence cases that we should all be watching, including cases on expert report limitations, contention interrogatories, deposition scheduling, and privilege waiver. We also discuss the most recent venue cases and how In re Planned Parenthood is impacting Texas venue decisions. Registration and attendance is free, and CLE credit is available, as always – sign up here.

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BCLT Texas IP Roundup – February 2023

msmithLast Week in Texas with Michael Smith - BCLT

The February edition of our monthly Texas IP Law Roundup is up – join us for another B-CLE webcast about Texas courts. BCLT refers to it as “Episode 2” but it’s actually the 34th program I have done with them – they restarted the numbering when we changed from podcast to webcast, and then again when we went to a monthly format with CLE. I stay with my own numbering format, so this one was our 34th – the rough cut for 35 already has 37 cases in it.

I selected the key cases from the prior month that you might need to know about, including important topics such as:

  • Enhanced post-verdict royalty rate linked to increased bargaining power after a favorable verdict;
  • Explanation of the customer-suit exceptions;
  • Evolving procedures on the use of special masters instead of technical advisors;
  • Impacts of In re Planned Parenthood and Fifth Circuit law on venue determinations;
  • Views on the differences between intra-district and inter-district transfers;
  • In camera proceedings re litigation funding documents; and
  • Guidance on sanction motions and a reminder of what is and is not sanctionable in a patent case.

Enrollment and CLE credit are complimentary.  A B-CLE account is required to enroll for courses, but you can subscribe at no charge.

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“Last Week in Texas” Goes Video & Online with Berkeley Center for Law & Technology’s new B-CLE Platform

msmithLast Week in Texas with Michael Smith - BCLT


BCLT just launched B-CLE, a platform to provide legal education—along with complimentary CLE credit—for technology and IP lawyers. It contains LWIT, which is now a video podcast – current episode here.

B-CLE has the last six episodes of LWIT up in video format, and you can log in and download them free of charge – and get complimentary CLE credit for watching them.

The “Tech Tuesday” email will provide a link for each week’s LWIT, or you can navigate to it from the B-CLE website. An account is necessary to view the episode (which has a discussion between Wayne Stacy and me – not just my talking head).  The episodes will have (if they don’t already) copies of the cases we’re discussing.

Once you have an account, the platform will send you a CLE certificate for any program that you watch.  At present B-CLE doesn’t offer Texas credit (it does California because of course, and is adding other states soon), but will provide the certificate that you can use to self report. 

So take a look at B-CLE and see what you think. Let me know if you have any suggestions on how we can improve it.

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