It’s always good to see a judge reaffirm his or her commitment to the legal concept of open justice.
Colm Connolly, the chief judge at the District Court for the District of Delaware, did so this year by issuing a standing order requiring litigants to divulge investor interests in their cases.
The order wasn’t unique in itself – the District Court for the District of New Jersey already issued a similar edict in 2021.
But it and its maker stood out for a few reasons. The first was that the order took effect in Delaware, the state where more than half of publicly traded US corporations are incorporated and which takes in the second highest number of patent cases every year.
The second was it targeted litigation funding specifically, which has become more and more popular in the patent space over the past few years.
And finally, the order likely served as a harbinger for planned Republican efforts to improve transparency on patent litigation funding, set to kick off next year in a big way.
Connolly, who was appointed by former president Donald Trump in 2018, has already thrown his order at a number of patent plaintiffs, including the non-practising entity VLSI.
In November, the judge called on several prolific patent suit-filing lawyers – including Jimmy Chong of the Chong Law Firm, William Ramey of Ramey, and Andrew Curfman of Sand, Sebolt & Wernow – to determine whether parties accurately disclosed information about their funding arrangements.
Connolly has already made a big splash, but his order and latest moves could soon trigger a tidal wave of reform.
