Search Results for: Heartland

BigCommerce: Venue in States with Several Districts

Patent

I previously wrote about Judge Gilstrap’s decision in BigCommerce and the somewhat complex issue of venue in multi-district states.  Even though BigCommerce is a Texas corporation, it argues that venue is improper in E.D.Tex. because the company HQ is in Austin (W.D.Tex.).  Judge Gilstrap disagreed and now Mark Lemley and his team have filed a petition for writ of mandamus to the Federal Circuit.

The issue begins with the statute – 28 U.S.C. 1400(b) states that a “civil action for patent infringement may be brought in the judicial district where the defendant resides…”  In TC Heartland the Supreme Court’s central holding is that “a domestic corporation ‘resides’ only in its State of incorporation for purposes of the patent venue statute.”  TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, 137 S. Ct. 1514 (2017).  On its face, that holding might appear to settle the issue – since BigCommerce is incorporated in Texas, venue is proper in any federal court in Texas.  However, the more general holding of TC Heartland was to reaffirm the prior Supreme Court decision in Fourco and, by implication, the even earlier Stonite decision.  Stonite Products Co. v. Melvin Lloyd Co., 315 U.S. 561 (1942).

The law of Stonite: In Stonite the Supreme Court was interpreting a prior version of 1400(b), but confirmed that “an inhabitant of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania” could not be sued for patent infringement in the “in the Western District of that State” without a “regular and established place of business” in that Western District.  As I previously wrote, a major “problem with Stonite is its cryptic language and that the prior statute used the word ‘inhabitant’ instead of ‘resident.'”

Now, the question is before the Federal Circuit on mandamus:

In which judicial district(s) do domestic corporations incorporated in multidistrict states “reside” under the patent venue statute?

The plaintiff in the case – Express Mobile – has been ordered to respond to the petition by January 8.

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The patent at issue is U.S. Patent No. 6,546,397 (“the ’397 patent”), entitled “Browser Based Web Site Generation Tool and Run Time Engine.” Claim 1 is as follows:

1. A method to allow users to produce Internet websites on and for computers having a browser and a virtual machine capable of generating displays, said method comprising

(a) presenting a viewable menu having a user selectable panel of settings describing elements on a website, said panel of settings being presented through a browser on a computer adapted to accept one or more of said selectable settings in said panel as inputs therefrom, and where at least one of said user selectable settings in said panel corresponds to commands to said virtual machine;

(b) generating a display in accordance with one or more user selected settings substantially contemporaneously with the selection thereof;

(c) storing information representative of said one or more user selected settings in a database;

(d) generating a website at least in part by retrieving said information representative of said one or more user selected settings stored in said database; and

(e) building one or more web pages to generate said website from at least a portion of said database and at least one run time file, where said at least one run time file utilizes information stored in said database to generate virtual machine commands for the display of at least a portion of said one or more web pages.

 

Patent Venue: Cyberspace does not Expand Place of Business

Patent

Important mandamus order narrowing patent venue. In re Cray (Fed. Cir. 2017) [Read the Case]

Following the Supreme Court’s decision in TC Heartland, the debate has moved to interpretation of the requirement that an infringement defendant have either residence or “a regular and established place of business” in the chosen venue.

Any civil action for patent infringement may be brought in the judicial district where the defendant resides, or where the defendant has committed acts of infringement and has a regular and established place of business. 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b).

In Raytheon v. Cray, the defendant is a Washington corporation with facilities in Austin and Houston – both of which are outside of the Eastern District of Texas. Still, E.D. Texas Judge Gilstrap found the company to fit within the regular and established place of business venue requirement based upon evidence that. Two Cray sales executives worked from home within the district – developing new sales and accounts worth ~ $350 million over the past 7 years.  The execs received reimbursement for certain utilities and charges within the district and publicly advertised their “office” phone numbers within E.D. Texas.

In the process of deciding its case, Judge Gilstrap also set forth an open four-factor test finding a regular and established place of business: physical presence, defendant’s representations, benefits received, and targeted interactions with the district.

As a general matter, Judge Gilstrap’s interpretation appears fairly broad, and on writ of mandamus, the Federal Circuit has rejected Gisltrap’s analysis and directed that he transfer the case to a more appropriate venue.

As a patent-focused statute, the Federal Circuit applies its own law to interpret the scope of 1400(b).  Here, the Federal Circuit interprets the requirement of a “regular and established place of business” to require three key elements: (1) a physical place within the district (2) that is a regular and established place of business (3) of the defendant.  The key focus here – regular and established place of business – i.e., a place of business that is both regular and established. According to the appellate panel these elements are requirements of the statute and all of them “must be present” for venue to be proper under the provision.   Thus:

The district court’s four-factor test is not sufficiently tethered to this statutory language and thus it fails to inform each of the necessary requirements of the statute.

According to the appellate panel, a court’s venue inquiry walk step-by-step through each of the requirements of the statute to ensure that each is present. “We stress that the analysis must be closely tied to the language of the statute.”

In looking at the application in this particular case, the Federal Circuit found that the home office and local sales were not sufficient to fill the statutory requirements.

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The decision here further solidifies the impact of the TC Heartland case — spreading jurisdiction out and away from E.D. Texas.

Of note, in its analysis, the Federal Circuit paid special attention to historical application of the statute that was originally adopted in 1897.  At that time, one congressman indicated its purpose was to “give original jurisdiction to the court where a permanent agency transacting the business is located.” 29 Cong. Rec. 1900 (1897) (statement of Rep. Lacey).  The court favorably cited pre-Federal-Circuit cases from the various circuits. Phillips v. Baker, 121 F.2d 752, 756 (9th Cir. 1941) (“A ‘regular place of business’ is, obviously, a place where such business is carried on ‘regularly’ and not merely temporarily, or for some special work or particular transaction.”); Knapp-Monarch Co. v. Casco Prods. Corp., 342 F.2d 622, 625 (7th Cir. 1965); Remington Rand Bus. Serv. v. Acme Card Sys. Co., 71 F.2d 628, 629 (4th Cir. 1934);  Am. Cyanamid Co. v. Nopco Chem. Co., 388 F.2d 818, 820 (4th Cir. 1968); Grantham v. Challenge-Cook Bros., Inc., 420 F.2d 1182, 1185–86 (7th Cir. 1969); Univ. of Ill. Found. v. Channel Master Corp., 382 F.2d 514, 516 (7th Cir. 1967); Shelton v. Schwartz, 131 F.2d 805, 808 (7th Cir. 1942).  In addition, the court revisited its important Cordis decision on point: In re Cordis Corp., 769 F.2d 733 (Fed. Cir. 1985).

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The opinion here is by Judge Lourie and joined by Judges Stoll and Reyna, and the basic holding is that the statute means the same as it did in 1897 and the same as it did in the 1940s and the same as it did in the 1980s (the last time it was interpreted directly).  Even if taken en banc, I would not expect any significant departure from this result.

Raising Venue Post TC Heartland

Ethics

There’s going to be a lot of litigation over whether a defendant who failed to object to venue pre-TC Heartland can raise it now.  In fact, why not a plaintiff?

One argument has succeeded, but I honestly wonder about its foundation.  The argument goes like this:  (a)  Rule 12 only operates to waive certain 12(b) “defenses,” including improper venue, only if the defense was “available” when the defendant filed its answer or filed its pre-answer motion (waiver also occurs if someone includes an objection to improper venue in its answer, but doesn’t raise it promptly in a post-answer motion); (b) because of VE Holdings, the objection to improper venue was not available; and so (c) there was no waiver and the objection is now available.  A recent district court Westech Aerosol Corp. v. 3M Co. (W.D. Wa. June 21, 2017) accepted this argument, allowed the objection to be raised.  It did, however, consider issues like prejudice and delay — which, ordinarily, aren’t issues in improper venue motions.

Well, okay maybe.  But if I were a judge, especially if the case had been pending a while, I’d say: “the defendant in TC Heartland raised the issue, so are saying you’re special, and it was ‘available’ only to that defendant?”  Put in legalese, there has been a non-frivolous basis for arguing that VE Holdings was wrongly decided since, well, the day that case was decided.

Granted, there is probably a spectrum here:  a defendant who included the objection to improper venue in its answer, but then did not move to dismiss, is no doubt in a better place than a defendant who did not include it at all (at least as far as atmospherics go), and plainly courts should consider the disruption and prejudice that these “now available” motions will raise.

Competent lawyers should think about whether to raise the defense (it may be a bad idea for a client, even if it is available), and how to defeat it.  Likewise, a plaintiff might consider a strategic motion, too!

 

TC Heartland: Next Step in Limiting Patent Venue and Jurisdiction

Patent,

In the pending mandamus action of TC Heartland, the merits panel has taken one step forward by ordering oral arguments – set for March 11, 2016.  Although the order was a per curiam decision by the Merits Panel, it does not, on its face, reveal the identity of the three judge panel. The petition asks the Federal Circuit to change its rule on patent venue and personal jurisdiction.  If the petitioner here wins, we could see a dramatic shift in the geographic distribution of patent cases.  In other words, it would become much more difficult to bring an infringement action in the ongoing hot-spot of the Eastern District of Texas.

More on the case from Patently-O: https://patentlyo.com/?s=Heartland

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As I’ve written before, the actual venue and jurisdiction issues in the case are both important and fascinating.  My question on this ruling stems from the secrecy — that the merits panel issued an order without revealing the identity of the panel members.  [OK – a couple of folks have convinced me that this secrecy is proper (or at least SOP) since the court did not make any substantive decisions but only provided notice of oral arguments.]

 

 

Where Does Infringement Occur?  Lessons from Extraterritoriality Cases

Patent

Guest post by Josh Landau, Patent Counsel for CCIA

It seems like a truly simple question to answer: where is an act of infringement committed?  And it’s one that became more important after TC Heartland’s decision that venue is proper “in the judicial district where the defendant resides, or where the defendant has committed acts of infringement and has a regular and established place of business.”  There’s been a lot of discussion, here and elsewhere, of what “regular and established place of business” means, but less focus on where acts of infringement occur.

Fortunately, there is one place where the issue of where infringement happens has come up: extraterritorial infringement cases.

Methods Abroad in NTP

The Federal Circuit defined the location of infringement tautologically in NTP v. RIM, saying “[t]he situs of the infringement ‘is wherever an offending act [of infringement] is committed.’”  And for simple machines or processes that operate entirely in one place, this provides a simple and workable definition.  But what about more complex systems that have components or perform steps in disparate geographic locations, like the claims in NTP?

For system claims, NTP says that use occurs in “the place at which the system as a whole is put into service, i.e., the place where control of the system is exercised and beneficial use of the system obtained.”

But for method claims, we have to answer a different question.  The NTP court said that a process cannot be used “within” the United States unless each and every one of the steps is performed in the United States.  For a method claim, the place where infringement occurs is the place where each and every step is performed.

TC Heartland

While NTP was decided in reference to 35 U.S.C. § 271(a) and TC Heartland dealt with 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b), both sections include the notion of the location where the act of infringement occurs.  If the test for where use of a method claim occurs is a consistent test for both determining whether it’s within the United States and for whether it’s within a judicial district, then the NTP test would apply.

That would mean that the only place where venue may be proper for method claims with steps performed in multiple locations (e.g., cloud computing claims with both user and server limitations, or networking claims with client and server relationships) could be the district where the alleged infringer is incorporated.  If there’s a server in the Northern District of California and a user’s smartphone is in the Eastern District of Texas, then the method isn’t performed in either place under the NTP test.  That leaves a patent holder with the option of suing where the server is (assuming they can show a user within the same district as the server) or else suing where the company resides.

Indirect infringement

This is only for direct infringement, of course.  I’m unaware of comparable cases to NTP v. RIM that provide a definition for where indirect infringement takes place.  The limited set of extraterritoriality cases handling the issue don’t specifically address the location of the infringing act of indirect infringement; they focus more on whether a direct infringement has occurred within the United States in order to avoid raising concerns about extraterritorial applications of U.S. law.

So the question becomes: if I induce infringement by acts taken in the Northern District of California, but the direct infringement occurs elsewhere (or across multiple districts), did the act of inducing infringement occur in the place where I took the action that induced the infringement?  Or did it occur somewhere else?

The extraterritoriality cases with respect to inducement suggest that as long as there’s a directly infringing act in the district, actions taken outside the district to induce infringement would be subject to venue in the district.  However, as we saw above, there might not be a directly infringing act in the district, so inducement might not be available at all.  Contributory infringement might prove a stronger avenue, as it explicitly conceives of sale or importation of an article practicing the patent as the infringing act.

But all of this has to be taken in view of the existing difficulties for a plaintiff trying to assert induced or contributory infringement, such as the requirement to show specific intent to infringe or to show a lack of any substantial non-infringing use.  While a plaintiff might be able to use indirect infringement to manufacture venue for a method claim in order to choose a forum, it might not be a strong claim.

How much does this really matter?

It might not matter much.  While patents that only have method claims could have a limited set of venues in which they can be asserted, most patents include both method and apparatus claims and both sets are asserted together.  That could be enough to manufacture a “supplemental venue” over the method claims, even if there are method steps performed elsewhere.

The Federal Circuit doesn’t seem to have addressed this question, but other courts have.  Prior to the creation of the Federal Circuit, the 7th Circuit determined that when a patent has both method and apparatus claims, venue is proper for both the method and apparatus claims even if only the apparatus claim is infringed within the judicial district.  See General Foods Corporation v. Carnation Company, 411 F. 2d 528 (7th Cir. 1969).  The Carnation court’s concern was that, otherwise, “an action for patent infringement in a situation such as we have here would be tried piecemeal, some claims in one jurisdiction and others in another.”

But the Carnation court didn’t address the fact that the statute allows using the district “where the defendant resides” as an alternative to the district where acts of infringement occur.  In other words, the case wouldn’t have to be tried piecemeal at all, but could always be heard in one location—the place of incorporation of the defendant.  If the only interest weighing against severing the venue-less method claims into their own case and transferring that case is the interest in hearing claims with similar scopes in the same court, then the proper remedy is a requirement to transfer all of the claims to a location where venue is proper, not to create a “supplemental venue” provision.

 

Supreme Court Patent Cases: Post Sale Exhaustion

Patent, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

by Dennis Crouch

Substantive Patent Law: Newly filed petition in Merck & Cie v. Watson Labs raises a core substantive patent issue – does the on sale bar apply to secret sales? The defendant asks:

Whether the “on sale” bar found in § 102(b) applies only to sales or offers of sale made available to the public, as Congress, this Court, and the United States have all made clear, or whether it also applies to non-public sales or offers of sale, as the Federal Circuit has held.

The Merck petition is focused on pre-AIA patents.  The PTO (and patentees) are arguing more forcefully that the AIA certainly intended to exclude secret sales from the scope of prior art in cases now pending before the Federal Circuit.

The second new substantive patent law case is Google v. Arendi that challenge’s the Federal Circuit’s limitations on the use of common sense in the obviousness analysis.  In its decision, the Federal Circuit limited KSR to combination patents and held that “common sense” cannot be used to supply missing limitations.  Google argues that the Federal Circuit’s approach is contrary to the broad and flexible obviousness analysis required by KSR.  Patentees bristle term “common sense” – they see an overly flexible analysis as providing opportunities to invalidate patents without evidence.  The question: “Did the Federal Circuit err in restricting the Board’s ability to rely on the common sense and common knowledge of skilled artisans to establish the obviousness of patent claims?”

As these new petitions were being filed, the Supreme Court has also denied the pending obviousness, anticipation, and eligibility petitions.  In addition, Cooper v. Square has also been denied.

Civil Procedure: In J&J v. Rembrandt, the defendant J&J won at trial. However, Rembrandt later learned that J&J’s expert had testified falsely and the Federal Circuit ordered the case re-opened under R.60(b)(3) that empowers district courts to revisit final judgments after a showing of “fraud …, misrepresentation, or misconduct by the opposing party.”  The various circuits follow different standards and procedures for analyzing process and J&J has asked the Supreme Court to reconcile these (in its favor).  Another CivPro petition was also filed by Eon Corp that questions whether an appellee needed to file a R.50 JMOL motion to overturn a jury verdict that was based upon a faulty legal conclusion by the district court (here claim construction).  The Question Presented is:

Whether the Federal Circuit erred in ordering entry of judgment as a matter of law on a ground not presented in a Rule 50 motion in the district court, even though the ground presented a purely legal question.

Both J&J and Eon are only marginally patent cases, the core procedure case now pending is TC Heartland that would substantially upset the status quo of patent lawsuit concentration in E.D. Texas. Briefing continues in TC Heartland. In recent weeks a set of seven amici briefs were filed on the top side.

Next week Supreme Court conference includes review of the most likely-to-be-granted petition of Impression Products, Inc. v. Lexmark International, Inc. that focuses on important questions of post-sale exhaustion of patent rights.  The setup – If I buy a used product that was made and sold by the patentee, do I still need to worry that I might get sued for patent infringement?  The Federal Circuit says yes. The Supreme Court is likely to add some caveats to that.  The US Government (Obama Administration via DOJ) has argued that the case should be reviewed and that the Federal Circuit’s position should be rejected. Both parties then filed supplemental responsive briefs.  Lexmark’s best argument here is that these principles are well settled and that Congress can take on the role of tweaking them if needed.

Upcoming Supreme Court Oral Argument: Life Tech (export of components) set for December 6, 2016.

(more…)

USPTO Working Group on Regulatory Reform

Patent

Under the direction of the White House, the USPTO has formed a “Working Group on Regulatory Reform.”  To implement the 2-for-1 regulatory agenda previously outlined on Patently-O. According to a release from Dir. Michelle Lee’s office:

USPTO’s Working Group on Regulatory Reform implements President Donald Trump’s January 30, 2017 Executive Order 13771(link is external), titled “Presidential Executive Order on Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs,” and his February 24, 2017 Executive Order 13777 (link is external), titled “Presidential Executive Order on Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda.”

 Longtime PTO attorney Nick Oettinger, will lead the team that is tasked with reviewing and recommending “ways that USPTO regulations can be improved, revised, and streamlined.”
Input from the public here: RegulatoryReformGroup@uspto.gov.
More info: https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/uspto-working-group-regulatory-reform

The Imminent Outpouring from the Eastern District of Texas

Articles and Publications, Journal, Patent, , , , , , ,

The following guest post by Professor Paul Janicke ties-in with his new article published at: Paul M. Janicke, The Imminent Outpouring from the Eastern District of Texas, 2017 Patently-O Patent Law Journal 1. – DC

by Paul M. Janicke┼

When the Supreme Court reverses the Federal Circuit’s venue ruling in the TC Heartland case, a reversal widely expected, it will return patent venue to the time prior to 1988, when the residence of a corporation for patent venue purpose was limited to (i) a district within the state of incorporation, or (ii) a district where the corporation has a regular and established place of business and has allegedly committed an act of infringement. Presently pending in the Eastern District of Texas are 1,000+ patent cases. The number may go up or down a little before the Court’s ruling, but it’s not likely to change much in that short time.[1] My inquiry is: What will happen to those cases?  My analysis on this subject can be found at Paul M. Janicke, The Imminent Outpouring from the Eastern District of Texas, 2017 Patently-O Patent Law Journal 1..

The new venue statute upon which the Court will base its ruling became effective in January 2012. That means it applies to nearly all the cases now on the Eastern District’s docket, and the venue for hundreds of those cases was likely improper. Those defendants who are not Texas corporations and who lacked any regular and established place of business in Eastern Texas when suit was filed will be entitled to dismissal or transfer to a district that would have been proper under the new law, unless they have waived the improper venue defense. Let’s take a look at the groups of possibly affected defendants.

Local Merchants

Some defendants are local merchants in the Eastern District, accused of infringement only because they sell products made by others. Venue as to these merchants will be proper under either the old or new venue rules, so they are entitled to neither dismissal nor transfer. If the case against a merchant’s vendor is transferred, the merchant’s best bet is to seek a stay of the case against it. While stays are not particularly favored in the Eastern District, a situation like the present one has not likely been encountered before. It may work.

Active Players As Defendants

These are typically manufacturers of high-tech products or vendors of software. Computer-related technology is said to be the subject of over 90% of patent case filings in the district. Most of them lack any regular place of business in Eastern Texas, although we have found some 70 companies who employ 100 or more persons in the district and are defendants in pending patent cases there. Most of these businesses are in Plano, with a few in Beaumont. They too will have to stay put. It isn’t required that the place of business be related to the accused infringing activity.

The Many Other Defendants, And the Problem of Waiver

Those companies lacking a regular business location in the Eastern District will, for the most part, want to exit that district. Some may choose to stay there in order to effect a quick settlement or to show support for their beleaguered customers who have been sued in the district, but I estimate at least 800 will consider seeking a transfer. These break down into two roughly equal groups, those who have waived improper venue and those who have not. Waiver of this defense most typically occurs by failure to plead it in the answer or in an early motion under Rule 12. A sampling of pleadings in pending Eastern District patent cases reveals that in roughly 400 cases the main defendant did not plead improper venue or make a Rule 12 motion. (Note that this is a different subject from inconvenient venue, which is handled under a different statutory section and was sometimes pleaded in the answers.) It is understandable why the improper venue pleading was missing in so many cases: No one knew or even suspected until very recently that the venue rules had been changed by Congress in 2011, effective for all cases filed after January 2012. Good ethical lawyers know they shouldn’t plead a matter for which they have no legal or factual basis, and so they didn’t, and therein lies the waiver. Unfortunately, they cannot undo it by arguing “change in the law.” The change occurred in 2012.

The other group of defendants may have been insightful, but more likely were just following a form-book shotgun answer, and so they did plead improper venue in their answers. Answering this way is usually enough to preserve this defense, but not always. It has been held that taking discovery does not trigger a waiver, nor does proceeding to trial. It is thought that the corporate defendant who has pleaded the defense unsuccessfully has been forced to remain in the improper forum, so these litigation activities are not held against it. However, some courts have held that moving for summary judgment (unsuccessfully of course) is a different matter and does cause a waiver. You are not obliged to seek summary judgment, and you are invoking the court’s power. So some in the second group may find they too have waived.

For Those Exiting, Where Will They Be Sent?

This leaves about 400 non-waived cases. The case law on improper venue cases shows a distinct judicial preference for transfers rather than dismissals. To what districts will these non-waived defendants be transferred? Whatever districts are chosen, we should bear in mind that some of the NPE plaintiffs may not wish to follow, due to the expense involved, so those cases may effectively end. For more serious plaintiffs, we do not know where the cases will go. It depends on subjective factors applicable to each case, but here are some possible options: (1) Choose a district that one or both parties ask for. (2) Select a proper district that has a number of patent pilot judges, the three largest being Northern Illinois, Southern New York, and Central California. (3)  Use history as a guide: In 1997, one year before the large influx to Eastern Texas began, the busiest patent districts were Northern California (172 filings), Central California (162 filings), and Northern Illinois (116 filings). In that year the number of patent cases filed in the Eastern District of Texas was: 10. We shall soon see.

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┼ Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center

[1] The case is set for argument March 27, with a decision very likely before the end of the Court’s term in June.

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Read the Article: Janicke.2017.Venue

Prior Patently-O Patent L.J. Articles:

  • Mark A. Lemley, Erik Oliver, Kent Richardson, James Yoon, & Michael Costa, Patent Purchases and Litigation Outcomes, 2016 Patently-O Patent Law Journal 15 (Lemley.2016.PatentMarket)
  • Bernard Chao and Amy Mapes, An Early Look at Mayo’s Impact on Personalized Medicine, 2016 Patently-O Patent Law Journal 10 (Chao.2016.PersonalizedMedicine)
  • James E. Daily, An Empirical Analysis of Some Proponents and Opponents of Patent Reform, 2016 Patently-O Patent Law Journal 1. (Daily.2016.Professors)
  • Tristan Gray–Le Coz and Charles Duan, Apply It to the USPTO: Review of the Implementation of Alice v. CLS Bank in Patent Examination, 2014 Patently-O Patent Law Journal 1. (GrayLeCozDuan)
  • Robert L. Stoll, Maintaining Post-Grant Review Estoppel in the America Invents Act: A Call for Legislative Restraint, 2012 Patently-O Patent Law Journal 1 (Stoll.2012.estoppel.pdf)
  • Paul Morgan, The Ambiguity in Section 102(a)(1) of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, 2011 Patently-O Patent Law Journal 29.  (Morgan.2011.AIAAmbiguities)
  • Joshua D. Sarnoff, Derivation and Prior Art Problems with the New Patent Act, 2011 Patently-O Patent Law Journal 12 (sarnoff.2011.derivation.pdf)
  • Bernard Chao, Not So Confidential: A Call for Restraint in Sealing Court Records, 2011 Patently-O Patent Patent Law Journal 6 (chao.sealedrecords.pdf)
  • Benjamin Levi and Rodney R. Sweetland, The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Recommendations to the International Trade Commission (ITC):  Unsound, Unmeasured, and Unauthoritative, 2011 Patently-O Patent Law Journal 1 (levi.ftcunsound.pdf)
  • Kevin Emerson Collins, An Initial Comment on King Pharmaceuticals: The Printed Matter Doctrine as a Structural Doctrine and Its Implications for Prometheus Laboratories, 2010 Patently-O Patent Law Journal 111 (Collins.KingPharma.pdf)
  • Robert A. Matthews, Jr., When Multiple Plaintiffs/Relators Sue for the Same Act of Patent False Marking, 2010 Patently-O Patent Law Journal 95 (matthews.falsemarking.pdf)
  • Kristen Osenga, The Patent Office’s Fast Track Will Not Take Us in the Right Direction, 2010 Patently-O Patent L.J. 89 (Osenga.pdf)
  • Peter S. Menell,  The International Trade Commission’s Section 337 Authority, 2010 Patently-O Patent L.J. 79
  • Donald S. Chisum, Written Description of the Invention: Ariad (2010) and the Overlooked Invention Priority Principle, 2010 Patently‐O Patent L.J. 72
  • Kevin Collins, An Initial Comment on Ariad: Written Description and the Baseline of Patent Protection for After-Arising Technology, 2010 Patently-O Patent L.J. 24
  • Etan Chatlynne, Investigating Patent Law’s Presumption of Validity—An Empirical Analysis, 2010 Patently-O Patent L.J. 37
  • Michael Kasdan and Joseph Casino, Federal Courts Closely Scrutinizing and Slashing Patent Damage Awards, 2010 Patently-O Patent L.J. 24 (Kasdan.Casino.Damages)
  • Dennis Crouch, Broadening Federal Circuit Jurisprudence: Moving Beyond Federal Circuit Patent Cases, 2010 Patently-O Patent L.J. 19 (2010)
  • Edward Reines and Nathan Greenblatt, Interlocutory Appeals of Claim Construction in the Patent Reform Act of 2009, Part II, 2010 Patently‐O Patent L.J. 7  (2010) (Reines.2010)
  • Gregory P. Landis & Loria B. Yeadon, Selecting the Next Nominee for the Federal Circuit: Patently Obvious to Consider Diversity, 2010 Patently-O Patent L.J. 1 (2010) (Nominee Diversity)
  • Paul Cole, Patentability of Computer Software As Such, 2008 Patently-O Patent L.J. 1. (Cole.pdf)
  • John F. Duffy, The Death of Google’s Patents, 2008 Patently O-Pat. L.J. ___ (googlepatents101.pdf)
  • Mark R. Patterson, Reestablishing the Doctrine of Patent Exhaustion, 2007 Patently-O Patent L.J. 38
  • Arti K. Rai, The GSK Case: An Administrative Perspective, 2007 Patently-O Patent L.J. 36
  • Joshua D. Sarnoff, BIO v. DC and the New Need to Eliminate Federal Patent Law Preemption of State and Local Price and Product Regulation, 2007 Patently-O Patent L.J. 30 (Download Sarnoff.BIO.pdf)
  • John F. Duffy, Are Administrative Patent Judges Unconstitutional?, 2007 Patently-O Patent L.J. 21. (Duffy.BPAI.pdf)
  • Joseph Casino and Michael Kasdan, In re Seagate Technology: Willfulness and Waiver, a Summary and a Proposal, 2007 Patently-O Patent L.J. 1 (Casino-Seagate)

Goodbye E.D.Texas as a Major Patent Venue

Patent,

by Dennis Crouch

In a case with the potential to truly shake-up the current state of patent litigation, the Supreme Court has granted certiorari in the patent venue case TC Heartland v. Kraft Food (SCT Docket No. 16-341).  An 8-0 reversal of the Federal Circuit is quite likely, although my headline is likely premature.

The case centers on the patent litigation venue statute which states rather simply that patent infringement actions “may be brought” either (1) in “the judicial district where the defendant resides”; or (2) “where the defendant has committed acts of infringement and has a regular and established place of business.” 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b).  Under any normal interpretation of the provision, very few cases would be amenable to proper venue in the Eastern District of Texas because almost none of the accused infringers “reside” in that district or even have a place of business in that district.  However, the “normal” interpreation was seemingly thrown under the bus by a congressional provision that expands the definition of a corporation’s residence to all districts where the company has minimum contacts.  See 28 U.S.C. § 1391.  For its part, the Federal Circuit found that Section 1391 applies to expand the scope of 1400(b) to all for, inter alia, the filing of infringement lawsuits in the Eastern District of Texas.

It turns out that the Supreme Court has already decided almost this exact case in Fourco Glass Co. v. Transmirra Products Corp., 353 U.S. 222 (1957). In Fourco, the Court held that “§ 1400(b) is not to be supplemented by § 1391(c), and that as applied to corporate entities, the phrase “where the defendant resides” in § 1400(b) “mean[s] the state of incorporation only.” (quoting from the certiorari petition). Although the provisions have been amended since 1957, non of the amendments appear to warrant such a dramatic change in the Supreme Court’s analysis of the statutes.

In its 1990 VE Holdings decision, the Federal Circuit rejected Fourco based upon some reasoning, but without any good reasons.  There are two reasons to stick with the Federal Circuit’s 26 year old rule: (1) The rule is 26 years old and well settled with almost every patents now in force applied-for after the rule change.  At this point, it is Congress’s turn (not the courts) to amend the statute if its wants a policy change. (2) The actual reasoning of Fourco is quite dodgy – not the most stellar statutory interpretation.  If the Supreme Court actually takes a fresh look at the statute it may well overturn Fourco of its own accord.   Still, I expect that these arguments will not carry the day and instead that the Supreme Court will reverse the Federal Circuit.  The result would then be a major redistribution of patent infringement cases.

More Reading:

Patent Venue at the Supreme Court: Correcting a 26 Year Old Legal Error

Guest Post: What Would Happen to Patent Cases if They Couldn’t all be Filed in Texas?

Guest Post: Recalibrating Patent Venue

TC Heartland Law Professor Amicus Brief

Guest Post: The Problematic Origins of Nationwide Patent Venue.

 

 

 

Welcome to VW of Waco

Patent

by Dennis Crouch

In re Volkswagen Group of America; In re Hyundai Motor America (Fed. Cir. 2022)

On appeal here, the Federal Circuit delved into franchise law — holding that independently owned and operated VW/Hyundai car dealerships located in the W.D. Texas do not count as a “place of business” of the car distributors.   As such, venue is improper under 28 U.S.C. 1400(b).

In ordinary civil actions, venue is proper in any district that would have personal jurisdiction over the defendant. 28 U.S.C. 1391.  Thus, for most federal cases, venue is not a major hurdle. But, in the 1800s, Congress created a special statute that substantially limits proper venue in patent cases (well before the expansion seen in Section 1391.  In Fourco (1957), and again in TC Heartland (2017), the Supreme Court gave weight to the patent-focused statute.  Today, there are two ways to show proper venue over a US corporate defendant:

  1. The defendant is incorporated in the state; or
  2. The defendant committed acts of infringement in the district and also has a “regular and established place of business” in the district.

TC Heartland, interpreting Section 1400(b).

In 2020, StratosAudio sued VW Group of America (VW) for patent infringement in Judge Albright’s court located in Waco, Texas.  VW is incorporated NJ and does not have its own “place of business” in the district.  However, there are VW dealerships in Waco and Austin.  The question is whether those can count as a “place of business” for the defendant.

The laws of most states, including Texas, prohibit auto manufacturers and distributors from operating a dealership within the state. Still, Judge Albright found sufficient control by the distributor as well as ratification by the distributors.

On mandamus, the court further defined its requirements to determine whether a dealership can count as the place of business for a manufacturer or  distributor:

  1. Is the dealership the VW’s agent?
  2. Does the dealership conduct VW’s business?; and
  3. Has VW ratified the dealership as its place of business?

Slip Op.  These requirements stem from the court’s 2020 Google decision requiring physical presence of an “agent of the defendant conducting the defendant’s business at the alleged place of business.” In re Google LLC, 949 F.3d 1338 (Fed. Cir. 2020).  In addition, the ratification requirement appears in Cray: “Thus, the defendant must establish or ratify the place of business. It is not enough that the employee does so on his or her own.” In re Cray Inc., 871 F.3d 1355 (Fed. Cir. 2017).   These three elements are independent requirements that must each be met before a place-of-business maintained by a separate legal entity will “count” as the place-of-business of the defendant.

Not Agents: Here in particular, the court found that the dealerships located in W.D.Texas are not agents of VW Group of America.  And, therefore, the dealerships are not a place-of-business of VW Group.  The court’s approach was to follow the Restatement (Third) of Agency in focusing on the right of control/direction by the principal; and consent to the agency relationship by both the principal and agent.  In the end, the court found that the dealerships had “full control over their day-to-day operations, such as sales.”  Thus, the court found no agency relationship there.  The court admitted some control over things such as:

  1. who can be employed, what roles are required, and other employment requirements;
  2. minimum inventory;
  3. requirement of performing warranty work (warranty is promised by VW, not the dealer);
  4. use specified tools when performing warranty and maintenance work;
  5. use distributor-approved computer hardware and software;
  6. compliance with distributors’ standards regarding dealership appearance and use of signs and brand logos;
  7. maintaining working capital;
  8. attending mandatory training and or certificates.

However, the court found that there was a lack of “interim control” once those parameters are set.

No agent, no place of business, no venue.

Historic Underpinnings of the Inventor Rights Act of 2019

Patent

I received some questions regarding my statement that the provisions of the Inventor Rights Act of 2019 “have historic roots.”  This post addresses those in more detail.

Profit Disgorgement – Reset to 1946: I will start with the profit disgorgement provision – which is a major change away from the current compensatory scheme in U.S. Utility Patent Law.  That said, disgorgement remains available for design patent infringement as well as other IP regimes such as copyright, trademark, and trade secret misappropriation.  The basic approach to disgorgement is to calculate the infringer’s profits associated with the infringement and then hand those profits over to the rights holder.  As Supreme Court explained in Tilghman v. Proctor, 125 U.S. 136 (1888), this approach is designed to avoid unjust enrichment by the infringer — what patent owners term “efficient infringement.”

The reasons that have led to the adoption of this [profit disgorgement] rule are that it comes nearer than any other to doing complete justice between the parties, that in equity the profits made by the infringer of a patent belong to the patentee and not to the infringer, and that it is inconsistent with the ordinary principles and practice of courts of chancery either on the one hand to permit the wrongdoer to profit by his own wrong

Tilghman v. Proctor, 125 U.S. 136 (1888).  Profit disgorgement was eliminated from the text of the Patent Act in 1946 and Courts have held that it is no longer an available remedy. See Aro Manufacturing Co. v. Convertible Top Replacement Co., 365 U.S. 336 (1961) (“The purpose of the change was precisely to eliminate the recovery of profits as such, and allow recovery of damages only.”); Caprice L. Roberts, The Case for Restitution and Unjust Enrichment Remedies in Patent Law, 14 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 653 (2010).

The provision found in the Inventor Rights Act of 2019 would effectively reinstate the disgorgement option close to what it was back in the 1870s when disgorgement became available for cases at law in addition to those in equity where it was already available.

Venue – Reset to 2017: Under TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, 137 S. Ct. 1514 (2017), federal patent infringement lawsuits can only be filed in states where the defendant either (1) is incorporated or (2) “committed acts of infringement and has a regular and established place of business.” Quoting 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b).  Prior to TC Heartland, venue was much broader and was proper so long as the court had personal jurisdiction over the defendant (i.e., minimum contacts).  The proposal in the Inventor Rights Act of 2019 would not fully restore the broad venue, but would allow an inventor to sue in states where the inventor conducted research or has a regular and established physical facility.

Injunctions – Reset to 2006: For many years courts issued injunctions as a matter of course against adjudged infringers.  That changed following eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C., 547 U.S. 388 (2006). In eBay, the Supreme Court ruled, inter alia, that no injunction should issue absent proof of irreparable harm caused by the infringement as well as inadequate remedy at law.

The proposal in the Inventor Rights Act of 2019 would would restore the pre-eBay law and thus allow for injunctive relief.

Post-Issuance Review – Reset to 1980: The Bayh-Dole Act (1980) authorized involuntary ex parte reexaminations. Since then, the scope of involuntary post issuance challenges have grown — most significantly with Trials under the 2011 America Invents Act (AIA).

The proposal in the Inventor Rights Act of 2019 would would restore the pre-1980 setup – barring any involuntary post-issuance review by the USPTO:

The United States Patent and Trademark Office shall not undertake a proceeding to reexamine, review, or otherwise make a determination about the validity of an inventor-owned patent without the consent of the patentee

IRA 2019.

Of course, a key principle of the proposal here is that it applies only to a subset of patents — those owned by their inventors.

(k) The term ‘inventor-owned patent’ means a patent with respect to which the inventor of the invention claimed by the patent or an entity controlled by that inventor—(1) is the patentee; and (2) holds all substantial rights.’

Id.

Am I my Server Rack?: Do Edge Nodes Satisfy the Venue Rules?

Patent

by Dennis Crouch

In re Google (Fed. Cir. 2019)

This appeal stems from a pending E.D.Tex. infringement lawsuit filed in 2017. SEVEN Networks, LLC v. Google LLC, 2:17-CV-00442 (E.D. Tex. Aug. 22, 2017).  In the case, SEVEN accused Google of infringing ten of its patents:

  • 8,078,158, titled “Provisioning Applications for a Mobile Device”
  • 8,811,952, titled “Mobile Device Power Management in Data Synchronization Over a Mobile Network With or Without a Trigger Notification”
  • 9,247,019, titled “Mobile Application Traffic Optimization”
  • 9,325,600, titled “Offloading Application Traffic to a Shared Communication Channel for Signal Optimization in a Wireless Network for Traffic Utilizing Proprietary and Non-Proprietary Protocols”
  • 9,351,254, titled “Method for Power Saving in Mobile Devices by Optimizing Wakelocks”
  • 9,386,433 titled “System and Method for Providing a Network Service in a Distributed Fashion to a Mobile Device”
  • 9,444,812, titled “Systems and Methods for Authenticating a Service”
  • 9,516,127, titled “Intelligent Alarm Manipulator and Resource Tracker”
  • 9,516,129, titled “Mobile Application Traffic Optimization”
  • 9,553,816, titled “Optimizing Mobile Network Traffic Coordination Across Multiple Applications Running on a Mobile Device,”

Google filed for dismissal under TC Heartland — arguing that it did not reside in E.D. Texas, and had no “regular and established place of business” within the district as required for proper venue under 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b).

However, the district court found venue to be proper.  The crux of the conclusion was based upon the fact that Google owns and uses computer servers within the district — “edge nodes” — that Google operate to quickly deliver content to its users within the district.  Note here that, although Google owns the servers, it rents the rack space within various ISP server hubs.

The Federal Circuit then denied Google’s writ of mandamus in a non-precedential 2018 order — noting in dicta that the district court decision was fact-specific and reasoned:

Google owns and wholly controls the servers, located in the district under specific contracts with ISPs—which may not even tighten a screw without Google’s instruction. The location of the servers in the district serves Google’s business interests—by serving interests of Google’s ISP customers (e.g., in saving transport costs), Google’s end-user customers (e.g., in quick delivery of content), or both—as confirmed by Google’s advertising of its Edge Network and the Edge Nodes for efficient content delivery; and upon installation of the servers, Google places its inventory in (loads its content onto) those servers, and when Google’s end-user customers ask Google for that inventory, Google can and often does fulfill those requests from those local servers. And the server placement contracts provide Google very strong control to
keep the servers at their locations once they are installed.

Rather than ruling on the merits, the appellate panel court denied the writ — holding that mandamus is not warranted in this case.  Rather, the majority approach is to wait until the conclusion of the trial and, if Google loses, it can then appeal the improper venue issue.

The mandamus denial was issued in a per curiam order by Judges Dyk and Taranto. Judge Reyna wrote in dissent — arguing that “Google’s petition presents fundamental issues concerning the application of § 1400(b) that have far reaching implications and on which district courts have disagreed.” Google persisted and filed a petition for en banc rehearing of its mandamus petition.  That request has now also been denied, with the inclusion of another Judge Reyna dissent — this time precedential and joined by Judges Newman and Lourie.

The question poised before the court is whether Google’s servers … which have no physical interaction with Google employees or customers and are installed by third-parties in the facilities of third-party [ISPs] located in the Eastern District of Texas, constitute a regular and established place of business under 35 U.S.C. 1400(b) and this court’s decision in Cray.

In his dissenting opinion, Judge Reyna argues (1) this is an important question that should be addressed on mandamus; and (2) the answer is that servers likely do not count as a “regular and established place of business.”

[E]xclusive ownership and control over the servers may be insufficient under Cray. See Cray, 871 F.3d at 1363 (“Relevant considerations include whether the defendant owns or leases the place, or exercises other attributes of possession or control over the place.” (emphases added)). It is undisputed that no Google employee has ever visited the places where the servers are installed. Nor do those facilities resemble one of the many Google offices in other venues that would satisfy § 1400(b) under a straightforward application of the statute. See id. at 1364 (“A further consideration for this requirement might be the nature and activity of the alleged place of business of the defendant in the district in comparison with that of other places of business of the defendant in other venues.”). … For many [internet focused] companies, the reasoning of the district court’s holding could essentially reestablish nationwide venue, in conflict with TC Heartland, by standing for the proposition that owning and controlling computer hardware involved in some aspect of company business (e.g., transmitting data) alone is sufficient.

Here, Judge Reyna is not deciding the question, but suggesting that the answer is likely that venue is improper.

Back on the ground – the case has been proceeding throughout the entire mandamus process. Trial was set for January 2018.  However, just before trial the parties asked for a stay of the case based upon an “agreement in principle” to settle the case.  A full settlement is now likely within a few days.

Venue in Multi-District States

Patent

by Dennis Crouch

The same panel that recently decided In re ZTE (Fed. Cir. May 14, 2018) (Judges Reyna, Linn, and Hughes) has now also decided another improper venue mandamus action: In re BigCommerce, Inc. (Fed. Cir. May 15, 2018).

BigCommerce focuses on the issue of proper venue in multi-district states. The potential confusion comes from the Supreme Court’s central holding in TC Heartland that “a domestic corporation ‘resides’ only in its State of incorporation for purposes of the patent venue statute.” BigCommerce is a Texas Company, but its HQ is in Austin (W.D.Texas) and argues that the Supreme Court’s statement was incomplete.  Now, on mandamus, the Federal Circuit has sided with BigCommerce — holding that the rule is more nuanced for multi-venue states.

[A] domestic corporation incorporated in a state having multiple judicial districts “resides” for purposes of the patent-specific venue statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b), only in the single judicial district within that state where it maintains a principal place of business, or failing that, the judicial district in which its registered office is located.

Thus, the outcome here is that E.D.Texas is an improper venue for BigCommerce under 28 U.S.C. 1400(b) since the company neither (1) resides nor (2) has a place of business in the venue.

1400(b) Any civil action for patent infringement may be brought in the judicial district where the defendant resides, or where the defendant has committed acts of infringement and has a regular and established place of business.

On remand, the District Court should either dismiss the lawsuits or grant a motion to transfer.

The Federal Circuit’s decision here has to be correct, and the only difficulty is the loose Supreme Court wording in TC Heartland.

In its analysis, the Federal Circuit started with the statute, which focuses on “the judicial district where the defendant resides.” The focus here is not on the “state” as a whole but on the district itself.  For its part, the appellate panel though emphasis should be added to the article “the judicial district” — i.e., what is the one single district where the defendant resides? “A plain reading of ‘the judicial district’ speaks to venue in only one particular judicial district in the state.”  The court also cited Stonite Products Co. v. Melvin Lloyd Co., 315 U.S. 561 (1942) for what it identified as the Supreme Court’s “view on the issue” — “that a corporation incorporated in a multi-district state is not a resident of every district in the state.”

Patent Venue: Half Christmas Pie, And Half Crow

Journal, Patent

Professor Paul M. Janicke returns to the Patently-O Patent Law Journal with a look back at his predictions about venue prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, 137 S.Ct. 1514 (2017)(limiting patent venue).  The new article is aptly titled Paul M. Janicke, Patent Venue: Half Christmas Pie, And Half Crow, 2017 Patently-O Patent Law Journal 13.

Read the Article: Janicke.2017.ChristmasPie

Prior Patently-O Patent L.J. Articles: (more…)

And… a court says “You could’ve done what TC Heartland’s Defendant did”

Ethics

Following up to the post below, in iLife Technologies v. Nintendo (N.D. Tex. June 27, 2017), the court held a venue challenge waived, writing in part: the “intervening twenty- seven years may have created reliance on VE Holding by litigants, including Nintendo, but that does not change the harsh reality that a party could have ultimately succeeded in convincing the Supreme Court to reaffirm Fourco, just as the petitioner in TC Heartland did.”

Where we are, I think is: (a) if venue is “now” improper in a case, you better be moving on it, no matter what you did in the past as far as waiving, raising, or conceding it, and filing your motion as soon as possible; but (b) there’s going to be, I think, deference given to district court decisions on this when and if one gets to the Federal Circuit. (I vaguely recall mandamus is available if a district court transfers a case out of a circuit, and that line of review may apply here, so maybe we’ll get a review before a final judgment, or maybe a judge will certify a case for interlocutory review, or it’s appeasable under Cohen, though I doubt that.)  Finally, people ought to look at the cases where, after a few recent Supreme Court cases narrowing general personal jurisdiction, folks tried to make a similar argument — that the law had changed.

Who Says its Not Convenient? Mandamus on 1404(a) Convenience

Patent

by Dennis Crouch

In re Apple (Apple v. Uniloc), Misc. Docket No. 20-135 (Fed. Cir. 2020)

In November 2020, the Federal Circuit granted Apple’s mandamus petition and ordered the case of Uniloc v. Apple to be transferred from W.D.Tex. (Albright, J) to Apple’s other home-court of N.D. Cal.  In the Federal Circuit’s opinion, the district court had clearly abused its discretion in finding that N.D. Cal. was not clearly the more convenient forum.  Notice the double-use of the word clearly above — the district court will transfer only when the proposed forum is “clearly more convenient”; and mandamus will only be granted for “clear abuse of discretion.”

Uniloc has now petitioned the court for en banc rehearing–arguing that the appellate panel failed to provide the double-deference required for mandamus review of a discretionary transfer decisions. As Judge Moore wrote in her dissent, “There is no more deferential standard of review.”

I remember talking with soon-to-be Chief Judge Rader back in 2009 about the court’s most important opinions of the term.  My view for top-on-the-list was In re TS Tech USA Corp., No. 09-M888 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 29, 2008).  That was the first case where the court granted mandamus on a denial of venue transfer under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a). At that time, patent litigation was highly concentrated in the Eastern District of Texas, and the proper venue statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b), had been fully nullified by the Federal Circuit.  E.D. Tex. remained a hot venue in patent cases following TS Tech, even as district court patent litigation declined based upon eligibility dismissals and the rise of administrative trials in the form of inter partes review (IPR). The real venue hammer came down with the Supreme Court’s decision in TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Grp. Brands LLC, 137 S. Ct. 1514 (2017).  In that decision, the court reinvigorated the notion of “proper venue” under § 1400(b).  Now, patent cases can only be sued in districts within where the defendant is incorporated or where where the defendant has infringed the patent and keeps a regular-and-established-place-of-business.  By closing its Plano, TX Apple Store, Apple was able to avoid the E.D. Tex. because venue was no longer proper.

In my view this history is important.  The pre-TC Heartland nullification of the proper-venue statute (§ 1400(b)) was a but-for cause of the E.D. Tex. concentration “problem”; and the Federal Circuit used the convenient-venue statute (§ 1404(a)) to relieve that policy pressure.  Now that proper-venue has been revitalized, it is time for the court to also reconsider its approach to convenient-venue.

In this case, it is clear that W.D. Texas is a proper venue for Apple; It also seems like it is pretty darn convenient. Apple has 8,000+ employees in the district and maintains its second-largest headquarters outside of Cupertino. One of the accused products is made in the district. And, even if Apple needs to fly-in witnesses it will be OK because the company is in the process of building its own 192 room hotel in the district.

= = =

Extraordinary Writ?: I may do a separate essay that focuses more on the legal issues of the petition, but I thought I would leave-of with an interesting statistic from the petition:

Since 2008, [the Federal Circuit] has issued over seventy mandamus decisions; the Fifth Circuit by comparison has issued seven. And this Court grants the “exceptional remedy” of mandamus in approximately 1-out-of-3 petitions.

Petition at 2.

 

Petitioning the Government as an Act of Infringement

Patent

by Dennis Crouch

Valeant Pharmaceuticals v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals (Fed. Cir. 2020)

Prior to TC Heartland, Federal Circuit precedent equated proper venue with personal jurisdiction — finding venue proper in any court that had personal jurisdiction over the defendant. See 28 U.S.C. § 1391.  In 2017, however, the Supreme Court gave renewed force to the text of 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b).

Any civil action for patent infringement may be brought [1] in the judicial district where the defendant resides, or [2] where the defendant has committed acts of infringement and has a regular and established place of business.

28 U.S.C. § 1400(b). You’ll see that I underlined “where the defendant has committed acts of infringement” in the quote above because Valeant focuses on the location-of-infringement.

Valeant is an innovator-generic ANDA case.  ANDA lawsuits are peculiar because the statutory act-of-infringement is submitting an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) to the FDA for a patented drug/use (along with a paragraph IV certification).  35 U.S.C. § 271(e)(2)(A) (“submit an application”). Here, the court held that that the location-of-infringement for venue purposes is “where actions related to the submission … occur.”  The court further clarified that Section 271(e) infringement (for venue purposes) does not consider “locations where future distribution of the generic products specified in the ANDA is contemplated.”

On the facts here:

  • Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. (“MPI”) is a West Virginia corporation and a subsidiary of the UK/Dutch company Mylan N.V.  Mylan is set to merge with Pfizer later this calendar year.
  • MPI submitted the ANDA documents from its Morgantown office to the FDA, which is located in Maryland just north of DC.
  • Valeant then sued for infringement in New Jersey — noting that MPI plans to market the generic drugs within the state.

We do not have information about the course taken by the ANDA filing, but the most efficient route from WV to MD does not pass through NJ. (Note assumption regarding mail efficiency.) In any event, the district court concluded: “defendant MPI submitted its ANDA application in West Virginia, to the FDA in Maryland. None of these actions occurred in New Jersey.”  On appeal, the Federal Circuit affirmed:

A plain language reading of this provision directs us to the conclusion that it is the submission of the ANDA, and only the submission, that constitutes an act of infringement in this context. Valeant makes several arguments as to why we should understand § 271(e)(2) as encompassing more. None persuade us to reach a different conclusion.

Slip Op.

There has been some debate about the how to think about § 271(e).  It seems odd that “to petition the Government” constitutes an act of infringement. (Quoting the First Amendment, U.S. Const.).  Some courts have seen the provision as creating an “artificial act of infringement” to trigger resolution before the real-infringement occurs.  You might see this as nunc-pro-tunc constructive infringement “by virtue of submitting an ANDA for the purpose of engaging in that future infringing conduct.” (quoting appellant’s brief); See also Eli Lilly and Co. v. Medtronic, Inc., 496 U.S. 661 (1990) (§ 271(e)(2) creates a “highly artificial act of infringement”).

On appeal, the Federal Circuit rejected the future-infringement theory and instead walked through a straight statutory read —

The Hatch-Waxman Act … speaks in real terms—submission of the ANDA is the infringing act. . . an ANDA submission is a real, albeit statutorily created, act of infringement.

Slip Op.

Although I have not developed this argument, the court’s straight-read of the statute here places the provision on rocky First Amendment grounds regarding both speech and gov’t petitions.  The court considered some of these issues in the personal-jurisdiction context in Zeneca Ltd. v. Mylan Pharm., Inc., 173 F.3d 829 (Fed. Cir. 1999)

In any event, MPI wins this round — with a holding that venue is improper against MPI in New Jersey.

= = = =

Foreign Defendant: Mylan Laboratories Ltd. (“MLL”) is also a defendant in the lawsuit, MLL is an “Indian corporation with a principal place of business in Hyderabad, India.”  If you remember, TC Heartland applied directly only to domestic corporations, and the district court held here that 28 U.S.C. § 1391(c)(3) allows the lawsuit in N.J. against the foreign corporation:

(3) a defendant not resident in the United States may be sued in any judicial district.

Id. However, the court went-ahead and dismissed the case against MLL on venue grounds. On appeal, the Federal Circuit reversed this holding.  MLL also argued that its case should be dismissed on R. 12(b)(6) for failure-to-state-a-claim. In particular, the complaint alleges that it was MPI who submitted the ANDA, not MLL.  On appeal, the Federal Circuit punted on that issue and remanded to the district court to determine the issue.

Although venue is “proper” for MLL it probably isn’t the most-convenient forum if the rest of the case is heading to W.V.  In addition, MPI might be considered a necessary party who cannot be joined under FRCP R. 19 (Required Joinder of Parties).  As such, I expect that the NJ case against MLL will be dismissed.

Chamberlain’s Garage Door Opener invalid as an Abstract Idea

Patent

The Chamberlain Group, Inc. v. Techtronic Industries Co. (Fed. Cir. 2019)

Chamberlain’s asserted patents cover various garage door opening inventions.

U.S. Patent No. 7,224,275 in particular claims a garage door opener that includes a status-condition-data-transmitter to know if the door is open or closed without looking.  The jury found that Techtronic willifully infringed and the patent not invalid.  The district court then awarded enhanced damages, attorney fees, and injunctive relief.

On appeal , the Federal Circuit has overturned the verdict — holding that the claims are invalid as directed toward the abstract idea of “wirelessly communicating status information about a system.” Alice Step 1. Further, the claims do not include any inventive concept under Alice Step 2. All of the physical elements in the claim were admittedly “well understood in the art” and claimed in a generic fashion.  The only arguably new element is that the actual information being transmitted is “a status condition signal that: corresponds to a present operational status condition (open or closed).

Claim 1:

A movable barrier operator comprising:

a controller having a plurality of potential operational status conditions …;

a movable barrier interface operably coupled to the controller;

a wireless status condition data transmitter that is operably coupled to the controller, wherein the wireless status condition data transmitter transmits a status condition signal that:

corresponds to a present operational status condition defined, at least in part, by at least two operating states from the plurality of operating states; and

comprises an identifier that is at least relatively unique to the movable barrier operator, such that the status condition signal substantially uniquely identifies the movable barrier operator.

For its part, the N.D. Ill district court (Judge Leinenweber) had concluded that the claims are directed to “garage door openers that wirelessly transmit data . . . us[ing] a particular manner of sending and experiencing data.”

In reviewing the case, the Federal Circuit placed the invention here within the context of the art — finding that the “only described difference between the prior art movable barrier operator systems and the claimed movable barrier operator system is that the status information about the system is communicated wirelessly, in order to overcome certain undesirable disadvantages of systems using physical signal paths—additional cost, exposed wiring, and increased installation time.”  From that framework, the court easily found the claim directed to an abstract idea.

On Alice Step 2, Chamberlain argued an inventive step — since it proposed a new garage door opener “that includes an integrated controller and a wireless transmitter to transmit a status signal.”  Nothing of record in the case provided evidence that such a setup was “well-understood, routine and conventional to a skilled artisan.”  On appeal, the Federal Circuit rejected this approach finding that the patentee “misunderstands our case law.”

The appropriate question is not whether the entire claim as a whole was “well-understood, routine [and] conventional” to a skilled artisan (i.e., whether it lacks novelty), but rather, there are two distinct questions: (1) whether each of “the [elements] in the claimed [product] (apart from the natural laws themselves) involve well-understood, routine, conventional activity previously engaged in by researchers in the field,” and (2) whether all of the steps “as an ordered combination add[] nothing to the laws of nature that is not already present when the steps are considered separately” Mayo. In other words, beyond the idea of wirelessly communicating status information about a movable barrier operator, what elements in the claim may be regarded as the “inventive concept”?

Here, the court found that once the abstract idea was removed, nothing in the claim remained except for conventional and well known elements.

= = = =

The lawsuit also included a second Chamberlain patent that that the jury had also found infringed and not anticipated.  U.S. patent No. 7,635,966.  The second patent was directed to a garage door opener that includes a rechargeable battery backup for use if the normal power supply is temporarily unavailable. On appeal, the Federal Circuit affirmed the no-anticipation jury verdict — holding that the single prior art reference was “less than clear” and thus the jury had room to make its factual determination.

On remand, the district court will need to re-do its remedies analysis, including enhanced damages, attorney fees, and injunctive relief now that only one of the patents is infringed.

= = = =

Improper Venue. Venue was apparently improper under TC Heartland. However, that decision was released only three months before trial.  The defendant requested a transfer of venue within 30 days of the Supreme Court decision.  However, that request was denied. On appeal, the Federal Circuit affirmed — holding that 28 USC 1406(b) provides the court with authority to reject venue transfer requests that are not “interpose[d] timely.”  The court writes:

TTI waited almost thirty days after TC Heartland and two months before trial to file a motion to transfer venue. The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying TTI’s motion to transfer venue under the circumstances here.

Here, a 30 day delay isn’t bad at all — except in the context of upcoming trial.

= = = =

Final note on the case and evidence. The defendant had petitioned the PTAB for inter partes review of the ‘966 patent. The PTAB however, denied institution.  The district court allowed that denial to be admitted as evidence.  However, the judge gave a limiting instruction to the jury — that the legal standards may differ.  On appeal, the Federal Circuit found no abuse of discretion.

Plaintiff has Burden of Establishing Proper Venue in Patent Cases

Patent

by Dennis Crouch

In re ZTE (Fed. Cir. May 14, 2018) is an important case establishing that the plaintiff has the burden of proving proper venue in patent cases. 

In May 2018, the Federal Circuit denied HTC’s writ-of-mandamus request on improper-venue grounds — holding that – like most issues – appeal of improper venue decision should ordinarily wait until final judgment.  See, Dennis Crouch, The US Venue Laws Do Not Protect Alien Defendants, Patently-O (May 9, 2018); In re HTC Corp., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 12182 (Fed. Cir. 2018). Less than one-week-later, the Federal Circuit has swung the other way — this time granting ZTE’s motion for writ of mandamus on the issue of improper venue.  The ZTE panel (Judges Reyna, Linn, Hughes) did not cite HTC, nor are there any overlapping judges with the HTC panel (Chief Judge Prost, and Judges Wallach and Taranto).  Of course, TC Heartland was an improper venue case that went to the Supreme Court on mandamus.

Here, the panel explained that mandamus makes sense because the decision resolves two “basic and undecided” issues of venue law: (1) What law to apply on the question of burden-of-proof for proper venue; and (2) Which party has the burden of showing proper/improper venue.

Federal Circuit Law: Each region within the US has its own court-of-appeals that guides lower courts in their decision making. Patent lawsuits are filed in these same regional courts, but the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit hears those appeals. The courts are all applying the same law, but differences in practice and interpretation have developed (i.e., Circuit Splits). In the patent world, the Federal Circuit has developed a practice of having the lower courts use their regional circuit law and procedure as a baseline, but then apply Federal Circuit law to issues unique to patent law.  See Biodex Corp. v. Loredan Biomed., Inc., 946 F.2d 850 (Fed. Cir. 1991).

In TC Heartland, the Supreme Court ruled that patent-venue is a unique patent law question. Here, the Federal Circuit has extended that general principle to hold that sub-determinations such as burdens-of-proof related to improper venue challenges are also issues of patent law for the Federal Circuit to decide.

Burden of Persuasion in Venue Law: The question of who has the burden of persuasion in venue law is interesting.  On the one hand, it appears to be the plaintiff’s burden to file the case in a proper venue. On the other hand, it is the defendant who files the FRCP 12(b)(3) motion to dismiss for improper venue.  The regional circuit courts do not offer much help because they are divided on the issue with reference to the general venue statute.

In this case the appellate panel found that 1400(b) is a restrictive measure – particularly limiting venue in patent cases — and that intentional narrowness suggests that the plaintiff should have the burden of showing proper venue.  This fits in line with Moore’s Federal Practice explanation.

It makes good sense to require a defendant who seeks dismissal of an action because of this personal privilege to establish the privilege. Placing the burden on the plaintiff is justified only in a case involving an exclusive venue statute, such as in patent infringement cases, in which venue lies in the district where the infringement takes place. Because the plaintiff has the burden of proving patent infringement, it makes sense to shift the burden of proof on the venue issue to the plaintiff, and the courts have so held.

17-110 Moore’s Federal Practice – Civil § 110.01[5][c] (2018).  (Note that when Moore’s state that “courts have so held”, the accompanying footnote only cites one 1981 district court case. Hoffacker v. Bike House, 540 F. Supp. 148, 149–150 (N.D. Ca. 1981)).

Here, the district court had placed the burden on the defendant ZTE of proving improper venue – on remand that burden needs to shift. The appellate panel went on to caution the lower court about finding a “regular and established place of business” in E.D. Texas based upon an “arms-length contract for service” with a call center provider.

Notes:

  1. Although the plaintiff has the burden of proving proper venue, it does not appear that the court here changed the usual notion that proper venue need not be alleged in the complaint itself. Rather, the defendant must challenge proper venue. Ordinarily for such a challenge to be recognized must surpass some burden of presentation — i.e., by making a plausible or prima facie case of improper venue.

The US Venue Laws do Not Protect Alien Defendants

Patent

In re HTC Corp. (Fed. Cir. 2018)

In 2017, 3G Licensing filed its infringement lawsuit in Delaware Federal Court — accusing both HTC Corp. (a Taiwan Corp.) and HTC America (its US Subsidiary based in Washington State) of infringement.  Following TC Heartland, the District Court found that venue was improper for HTC America, but allowed the action to proceed against the foreign company HTC Corp.

HTC Corp. then petitioned the Federal Circuit for a writ of mandamus on the issue – that writ has been denied.  Here, in particular, the decision indicates that a venue mandamus will no longer be granted simply “to avoid the inconvenience of litigation by having this issue decided at the outset of its case.”  Mandamus is seen by the courts as an extreme remedy and requires a showing that the petitioner has “no other adequate means to attain the relief desired.”  Here, the court notes denial of an improper venue motion can be appealed following a final judgment — and a successful appeal will render the judgment null.  The decision here contrasts with the court’s precedent regarding mandamus on convenience grounds (1404(a)) that really cannot be appealed post-final judgment.

In what appears to me as dicta, the Federal Circuit went on to explain its position that the Delaware court is a proper venue for the foreign corporation.  Rather, according to the court, TC Heartland did nothing to disturb the “long-established rule that suits against aliens are wholly outside the operation of all the federal venue laws, general and special.” Quoting Brunette Machine Works, Ltd. v. Kockum Industries, Inc., 406 U.S. 706 (1972).  The difficulty for foreign corporations is that many times there will be no proper venue under 28 U.S.C. 1400(b).

Any civil action for patent infringement may be brought in the judicial district where the defendant resides, or where the defendant has committed acts of infringement and has a regular and established place of business. 28 U.S.C. 1400(b).

As a result of the possibility that a foreign company might not fit within the Venue statute, the Supreme Court in Brunette held that venue is proper for a foreign corporation in any judicial district where accused is subject to personal jurisdiction. In other words “the venue laws do not protect alien defendants.”