After three years of skyrocketing patent suit filings, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has edged out the Central District of California as the busiest patent litigation venue in the country.

Professor Paul Janicke of the University of Houston Law Center, who conducted the survey of 2,772 patent suits filed nationally in fiscal 2007 (ending Sept. 30), noted that the Texas district had virtually no filings a decade ago and ranked sixth in the nation just three years ago.