On February 1, 2021, the Federal Circuit issued an order in In re: SK Hynix Inc. (available here). The order required a Western District of Texas district court judge to stay all proceedings until ruling on a pending transfer motion. Per the Federal Circuit, allowing the case to progress for eight months without ruling on the transfer motion constitutes “egregious delay and blatant disregard for precedent.” “Once a party files a transfer motion, disposing of that motion should unquestionably take priority.”
Prediction: this decision will result in significantly extending time-to-trial in W.D. Tex. cases where transfer motions have been filed and will encourage more defendants in patent cases (whether pending in W.D. Tex. or elsewhere) to file motions to transfer, regardless of whether such motions are likely to succeed, so as to obtain an “automatic” stay of the case until the transfer motions are decided.