E.D. Tex. P. R. 3-5 — Disclosure Requirement in Patent Cases for Declaratory Judgment

High confidence· verified September 26, 2026Local Rules

Summary

E.D. Tex. P. R. 3-5 — Disclosure Requirement in Patent Cases for Declaratory Judgment: the court's own rule, verbatim from UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS LOCAL RULES (as of February 9, 2026), official PDF, sha-custodied. Court-level requirement: applies in every case before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas alongside the federal rules and any judge-specific procedures.

Requirement

(a) Invalidity Contentions If No Claim of Infringement. In all cases in which a party files a complaint or other pleading seeking a declaratory judgment that a patent is not infringed, is invalid, or is unenforceable, P. R. 3-1 and 3-2 shall not apply unless and until a claim for patent infringement is made by a party. If the defendant does not assert a claim for patent infringement in its answer to the complaint, no later than 10 days after the defendant serves its answer, or 10 days after the Initial Case Management Conference, whichever is later, the party seeking a declaratory judgment must serve upon each opposing party its Invalidity Contentions that conform to P. R. 3-3 and produce or make available for inspection and copying the documents described in P. R. 3-4. The parties shall meet and confer within 10 days of the service of the Invalidity Contentions for the purpose of determining the date on which the plaintiff will file its Final Invalidity Contentions which shall be no later than 50 days after service by the Court of its Claim Construction Ruling. (b) Applications of Rules When No Specified Triggering Event. If the filings or actions in a case do not trigger the application of these Patent Rules under the terms set forth herein, the parties shall, as soon as such circumstances become known, meet and confer for the purpose of agreeing on the application of these Patent Rules to the case. (c) Inapplicability of Rule. This P. R. 3-5 shall not apply to cases in which a request for a declaratory judgment that a patent is not infringed, is invalid, or is unenforceable is filed in response to a complaint for infringement of the same patent.

Source of truth

(a) Invalidity Contentions If No Claim of Infringement. In all cases in which a party files a complaint or other pleading seeking a declaratory judgment that a patent is not infringed, is invalid, or is unenforceable, P. R. 3-1 and 3-2 shall not apply unless and until a claim for

Official source: E.D. Tex. — Rules & Orders (U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas)
Source health: Healthy · checked October 4, 2026
Effective date: February 9, 2026
Last verified: September 26, 2026benchpath-appfed-rules-2026-09-25

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