It's where the money is.

An article by John Council posted Monday in Texas Lawyer reports that, over the last 14 years, courts in the Eastern District of Texas have handed out more than $5B in compensatory damages awards in patent suits.  That's more than any other jurisdiction, and more than four times the next closest jurisdiction.

That's not especially surprising, given the number of patent cases filed in ED Texas, and their patent-friendly reputation.

What surprised me is that the next closest jurisdiction is the Western District of Pennsylvania.  Even more surprising, the Western District handed out more than $1B in compensatory damages over the same period, but that amount was given out in seven cases. 

Seven.  Works out to almost $180M per case.

The ED Texas handed out more in aggregate, but that amount covers 84 cases.  That means that, per case, the Western District of Pennsylvania handed out more than three times as much  in compensatory damages awards as the Eastern District of Texas.