Comparing Florida Patent Case Timetables
How do patent cases in Florida compare to the rest of the nation in terms of time from filing to decision?
Well, a lot depends upon whether the case seeks a bench trial or a jury trial as patent cases terminated by bench trials take much longer than cases terminated by jury trials.
According to LegalMetric, LLC, the average patent bench trial nationwide took 37.8 months compared to 27.1 months for a jury trial.
Here is how the numbers looked for patent cases in Florida:
Northern District of Florida
31.1 Months for bench trials; no data available on jury trials
Middle District of Florida
31.9 months for bench trials; 21.3 months for jury trials.
Southern District of Florida
34.3 months for bench trials; 34.8 months for jury trials.
Interestingly enough, trademark cases nationwide showed the opposite trend with 24.o months for bench trials and 26.7 months for jury trials. I have not been able to obtain stats on Florida trademark cases.