Posts Tagged: "Patent Venue"

Are Machines ‘Agents’ for Purposes of the Patent Venue Statute? (Part I)

In its TC Heartland decision in 2017, the Supreme Court rejected the Federal Circuit’s interpretation of the patent venue law, and held that in order to bring a patent infringement lawsuit against a company in a given district, that company must either reside in that district or have a “regular and established place of business” and have committed an act of alleged infringement there. As expected, this has led to a decrease in the number of patent cases being filed in the Eastern District of Texas, and an increase in the number of cases being brought in other districts, including in the District of Delaware, where many companies are incorporated. The TC Heartland decision was welcome news to many companies that regarded the Eastern District of Texas as being pro-plaintiff. However, the TC Heartland decision has not stopped plaintiffs from seeking to push the envelope as to the meaning of a “regular and established place of business” in order to seek to establish venue in a more favorable venue. Indeed, according to the Q1 2020 Patent Dispute Report, the Western District of Texas has now apparently become the venue of choice for filing patent infringement actions and it is forecasted to surpass the District of Delaware for the most new filings in 2020. The report also included that this district has become the “preferred venue” for non-practicing entities to bring infringement actions and is on pace to have over 600 patent related cases, with NPEs comprising approximately 80% of all cases. While it is too soon to know if this part of a long-term trend, it does highlight the unsettled nature of patent venue law, and the likelihood that the Federal Circuit, and perhaps the Supreme Court, will have to provide additional guidance on this issue, and especially how technology may impact this review

Sending Infringement Notice Letters May Create Personal Jurisdiction

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently reversed a district court’s grant of motion to dismiss a declaratory judge action against Plano Encryption Technologies LLC (PET). The district court, which is situated in the Northern District of Texas, held that PET’s contacts with the Northern district did not subject it to personal jurisdiction and venue was thus improper. On appeal, the Federal Circuit reversed and remanded for further proceedings… While personal jurisdiction and venue are fact-dependent inquiries, sending patent enforcement letters to a recipient located and doing business in a forum can be enough to establish personal jurisdiction over the sending party in the forum such that venue is proper in the forum. Such a finding may be particularly true when the sending party’s “sole business is to enforce its intellectual property.”

Federal Circuit Continues to Develop Patent Venue Law with Recent Trio of Decisions

The Federal Circuit’s recent venue decisions represent important developments in the interpretation of the patent venue statute. The application of these decisions will have immediate effects on defendants in patent infringement cases, and particularly those who are often subject to suit in popular districts like the Eastern District of Texas and the District of Delaware. While many open questions remain—perhaps most notably the treatment of domestic unincorporated associations—the Federal Circuit continues to delineate the scope of the patent venue statute.

EDTX says leased retail space can be a regular and established place of business for patent venue

The recent Tinnus opinion further defines the meaning of “regular and established place of business.” See Tinnus Enters. v. Telebrands Corp., Case No. 6:17-CV-00170-RWS (E.D. Tex. May 1, 2018). The opinion provides additional guidance to practitioners defining “residence” under TC Heartland, Micron, and Cray: teleworking employees are not enough, but leased retail space in brick-and-mortar stores might be.

In a Multi-District State, venue proper where defendant maintains a principal place of business

In patent infringement suits brought against a corporate defendant in a state with multiple judicial districts, venue is only proper in the single district where the defendant maintains a principal place of business. If the principal place of business is not in the state of incorporation, venue is proper in the single judicial district where the office registered in its corporate filings is located.