Guides · Patent Litigation
Patent Litigation Resources
Official sources for researching a patent, a patent dispute, and the courts and agencies that decide them.
· Links checked October 20, 2026
In Short
Official sources for researching a patent, a patent dispute, and the courts and agencies that decide them. All are free, except PACER, which charges per page.
Researching the patent.
- Patent Public Search: the full text of issued U.S. patents and published applications (USPTO).
- Patent Center: file histories, the record of what the applicant and examiner said (USPTO).
- Assignment Center: recorded assignments, showing who owns a patent (USPTO).
- Maintenance Fees Storefront: whether a patent's maintenance fees have been paid (USPTO).
- Global Dossier: related applications in other countries (USPTO).
Challenges at the Patent Office.
- P-TACTS: filings and decisions in inter partes review and post-grant review at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (USPTO).
- PTAB fees, 37 C.F.R. § 42.15 (Cornell Legal Information Institute).
Court records and rules.
- PACER: federal court dockets and filings.
- Eastern District of Texas Patent Rules.
- Southern District of Texas Local Patent Rules (updated Feb. 15, 2022).
- Northern District of Texas Local Patent Rules: Miscellaneous Order No. 62, as amended, on the court's website (txnd.uscourts.gov).
- Western District of Texas: patent procedures are set by each judge's standing orders, posted on the court's website (txwd.uscourts.gov).
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit: opinions, rules, and dockets for patent appeals.
Imports and the ITC.
- EDIS: filings in Section 337 investigations at the U.S. International Trade Commission.
Statutes.
- Title 35, U.S. Code (Patents) (Cornell Legal Information Institute).
- Texas Business and Commerce Code chapter 17: subchapter L (§§ 17.951-17.955) covers bad-faith claims of patent infringement.
- Texas Attorney General, consumer complaints: the office that enforces the bad-faith patent claims law.
Guides for further reading.
- Patent Case Management Judicial Guide, 3d ed. (Federal Judicial Center, 2016): the standard reference for judges, organized by stage of a case.
- An International Guide to Patent Case Management for Judges, ch. 10 (United States) (WIPO): a complete map of U.S. patent adjudication, including the ITC and the PTAB.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Links checked October 20, 2026. See the Disclaimer.