What Judge Albright is doing might be "selling" in the sense of marketing, but not in the sense that he gets any kind of money when people file in his court. S

What Judge Albright is doing might be "selling" in the sense of marketing, but not in the sense that he gets any kind of money when people file in his court. Since the Supreme Court's T.C. Heartland case, patent cases can only be brought in the defendant's state of incorporation, or "where the defendant . . . has a regular and established place of business." In practice this means that a plaintiff has to bring a case where the company has a presence, or in its state of incorporation. Typically a patent plaintiff does not want to sue in a defendant's home jurisdiction, because there is a perception that a defendant has an advantage on its home turf, and the patent holder won't get a fair shake. A patent plaintiff also typically does not want to sue in a jurisdiction where the judge may have little or no patent law experience, because it greatly increases the risks to everyone involved. Patent law can be tricky. That leaves the state of incorporation. Conveniently, Delaware—the most common state of incorporation and the jurisdiction where I practice—has a federal judiciary that is exceptionally experienced in patent litigation. It's a great forum for cases. That said, it's also a small court, with only four sitting judges. Almost every year for more than the past 10 years, it has ranked among the busiest courts in the country by number of judges. Even though the Delaware judges are absolute experts on patent law, it would be tough for any four people to deal with the torrent of patent cases that get filed here. So things like decisions on motions can sometimes be slower than some other courts. Because Delaware can be congested, and defendants' home turf (often California) is seen as biased, plaintiffs sometimes seek other options. You could view what Judge Albright is doing as saying "hey, plaintiffs, I know all about patent law and my court is not busy. You're safe to file here and you will get a judge who is not bothered by a patent case, with a fairly predictable outcome based on the merits of the case." That's maybe "selling" in the sense of marketing, but it's certainly not "corrupt" in any way.