Roy Steven Payne is currently a

U.S. Magistrate Judge In United States federal courts, magistrate judges are judges appointed to assist U.S. district court judges in the performance of their duties. Magistrate judges generally oversee first appearances of criminal defendants, set bail, and conduct ...

of the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (in case citations, E.D. Tex.) is a federal court in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Fifth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. ...

. He previously served as a

in the

United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana The United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana (in case citations, W.D. La.) is a United States federal court with jurisdiction over approximately two thirds of the state of Louisiana, with courts in Alexandria, Lafayette, ...

from 1987 to 2005.

Education

Judge Payne was born in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, received his undergraduate degree from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

(with distinction) in 1974 and obtained his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

degree from

Louisiana State University Law School The Paul M. Hebert Law Center, often styled "LSU Law", is a public law school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is part of the Louisiana State University System and located on the main campus of Louisiana State University. Because Louisiana is a ci ...

in 1977, where he graduated

Order of the Coif The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of advocates, the serjeants-at-law, whose courtroom attire included a coif—a white lawn or silk skullcap, whi ...

with

Phi Kappa Phi The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (or simply Phi Kappa Phi or ) is an honor society established in 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to area of study, and to promote the "unity and democracy of education ...

honors and also served as an Associate Editor on the ''

Louisiana Law Review The Paul M. Hebert Law Center, often styled "LSU Law", is a public law school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is part of the Louisiana State University System and located on the main campus of Louisiana State University. Because Louisiana is a ci ...

'' from 1976 to 1977, and where he published the Note
Due Process for Drivers under the Louisiana Revocation Statutes
', 36 La. L. Rev. 852 (1976) and later the article
The Coconspirators’ Exception to the Hearsay Rule: The Limits of Its Logic
', 37 La. L. Rev. 1101 (1977).Practicing Law Institute (PLI), Faculty Biography, Hon. Roy Payne, United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas, Magistrate Judge, Marshall TX, USA, http://www.pli.edu/Content/Faculty/Hon_Roy_Payne/_/N-4oZ1z127xg?ID=PE1316290 Judge Payne also obtained his

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

(

LL.M. A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

) degree from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1980.

Career

Judge Payne previously served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Tom Stagg,

U.S. District Judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

for the

from 1977 to 1979.Roy S. Payne, LawyerDB.com, http://www.lawyerdb.org/Lawyer/Roy-Payne/ He also was an instructor at the

New England School of Law New England Law , Boston (formerly New England School of Law) is a private law school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded as Portia School of Law in 1908 and is located in downtown Boston near the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Fina ...

from 1979 to 1980.Hon. Roy Payne, U.S.M.J. United States District Court at Eastern District of Texas, Bio, American Conference Institute (ACI), https://www.americanconference.com/speakers/hon-roy-payne/ Payne practiced with the law firm of Blanchard, Walker, O’Quin & Roberts in

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...

in the areas of insurance defense, products liability, tort law and commercial litigation from 1980 to 1987. In 1987, Judge Payne was appointed as a

for the

(based in

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population o ...

) and served in that position for 18 years, from 1987 to 2005. From 2005 to 2011, Payne was a partner with the law firm of Gregorio, Gregory & Payne in

, primarily representing plaintiffs in personal injury actions and commercial litigation.Michael C. Smith, New magistrate judge selected for Marshall, September 29, 2011, http://mcsmith.blogs.com/eastern_district_of_texas/2011/09/new-magistrate-judge-selected-for-marshall.htmlRobin Y. Richardson, East Texas Federal judge, magistrate judge, leave posts, Longview News-Journal, October 9, 2011, https://www.news-journal.com/news/2011/oct/09/east-texas-federal-judge-magistrate-leave-posts/John Council, New U.S. magistrate judge selected for Eastern District's Marshall Division, Texas Lawyer - Tex Parte Blog, September 28, 2011, http://texaslawyer.typepad.com/texas_lawyer_blog/2011/09/new-us-magistrate-judge-selected-for-eastern-districts-marshall-division.html Payne further served as the Chairman of Northwest Louisiana Legal Services from 1985 to 1986, was the President of the Harry V. Booth American Inn of Court from 1996 to 1998, was a member of the Hearing Committee for the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board in 2008, served as the Vice President of the Shreveport Bar Association in 2008 and the President Elect of the same organization in 2009. On December 28, 2011, Judge Payne was sworn in as U.S. Magistrate Judge for the

in Marshall, replacing previous U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles Everingham, and selected out of over 55 candidates for the position.

Patent Law Expertise

''Markman'' hearings

According to Docket Navigator, Judge Payne has construed a significantly high number of patent claim terms (over 8,500 terms as of 2023), and the number of claim terms he has construed before has been ranked the highest of all time compared to other judges in past polls or rankings. Also, according to

Lex Machina Lex Machina, Inc. is a company that provides legal analytics to legal professionals. It began as an IP litigation research company and is now a division of LexisNexis. The company started as a project at Stanford University within the university ...

, Docket Navigator and research done by patent law scholars, Judge Payne ranks among the top five federal judges, either Magistrate or District, who have conducted the most ''Markman'' hearings (aka claim construction hearings) of all time.

Patent litigation

Also, Judge Payne is the

that has had the most patent cases filed before him: for example, in 2017, Judge Payne had 327 new patent cases filed before him, which is the highest number for any U.S. Magistrate Judge, and second amongst all federal judges, District or Magistrate, the first being

James Rodney Gilstrap James Rodney Gilstrap (born May 1, 1957) is the United States federal judge, Chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. He is notable for presiding over more than one quarter of all ...

of the same

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (in case citations, E.D. Tex.) is a federal court in the Fifth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to ...

courthouse in

Marshall, Texas Marshall is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat of Harrison County, Texas, Harrison County and a cultural and educational center of the Ark-La-Tex region. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the population of M ...

, with 550 cases. In 2016, Judge Payne had 767 new patent cases filed before him, which was also the highest number for any U.S. Magistrate Judge, and second amongst all federal judges, the first again being Judge Gilstrap.Docket Navigator, New District Court Patent Cases through 2016, http://docketreport.blogspot.com/2017/02/new-district-court-patent-cases-through.html Moreover, in 2015, more than 25% of the nation's patent cases were filed before Judge Payne and/or also Judge Gilstrap in the

division of the

. In 2014-2015, Judge Payne was ranked second amongst all federal judges (either District or Magistrate judge) with the most new patent cases filed before him (2015:1074 cases; 2014:445 cases), the first ranked being Judge Gilstrap. According to Docket Navigator, in 2015 Judge Payne was ranked second as to the number of patent cases filed before him, the number of litigants, and the number of accusations, the first again being Judge Gilstrap. Similar statistics performed by Docket Navigator rank Judge Payne the second most active federal judge (either District or Magistrate judge) by number of parties, the third most active federal judge by number of orders and the fifth most active federal judge by number of cases from the years of 2014 to 2008 (even though he came on the bench in 2011) for patent litigation.Gibbons IP Law Alert, Patent Litigation Statistics, http://www.iplawalert.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/242/2014/03/Patent-Litigation-Research.pdf

Links

The Honorable Roy Payne, United States District Court for the Eastern District of TexasPLI Faculty Bios: Judge Roy Payne
* ttps://www.news-journal.com/news/2011/oct/09/east-texas-federal-judge-magistrate-leave-posts/ Robin Y. Richardson, East Texas Federal judge, Magistrate Judge, Leave Posts, Longview News-Journalbr>John Council, New U.S. Magistrate Judge Selected for Eastern District's Marshall Division, Texas Lawyer, Tex Parte BlogLegalSpan, Faculty Bio, Roy S. Payne