Intellectual Property Law

Federal Circuit grants mandamus ordering transfer of case from Eastern District of Texas

By McKee, Voorhees & Sease, P.L.C.

In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit granted a petition for a writ of mandamus after a district court denied transfer of the case.  The defendants/petitioners had been denied transfer of a patent case from the Eastern District of Texas (a venue perceived to be plaintiff-friendly in patent cases) to the Southern District of Ohio, where two of the three defendants were located.  The district court gave essentially controlling weight to the plaintiff's choice of venue, even though none of the parties, witnesses, or evidence was located in the district.  The only connection to the Eastern District of Texas was the fact that there had been sales of the allegedly infringing product there.

The Federal Circuit, applying the recent en banc Fifth Circuit decision in In re Volkswagen of America, Inc., granted the petitioners' request for mandamus.  The court held the case was factually indistinguishable from Volkswagen, where the Fifth Circuit en banc granted mandamus ordering transfer.  As a result, the court sent the case back with orders to transfer it to Ohio.

More detail of In re TS Tech USA Corp. after the jump.

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Full post as published by FileWrapper on March 25, 2009 (boomark / email).