SAN FRANCISCO — Delaware federal court judges may have a reputation for being reluctant to transfer cases, but that could be about to change.

The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a writ of mandamus Friday ordering the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware to transfer a patent infringement suit to the Northern District of California. And the decision could mean a lot more transfers of patent cases, many of them to the Northern District, lawyers in Silicon Valley say.