Rates Technology v. Nortel Networks (Fed. Cir. 2005).
by Bradley Crawford
The defendant, Nortel, was sued for patent infringement but raised the affirmative defense of lack of personal jurisdiction. Later, the defendant filed a permissive counterclaim. The plaintiff subsequently asserted that Nortel waived its lack of personal jurisdiction defense when it filed its permissive counterclaim. The district court disagreed. It ruled that the defendant’s filing a permissive counterclaim did not waive the lack of personal jurisdiction defense. It also ruled that it lacked personal jurisdiction over the defendant and dismissed the case.