IP Newsflash

The Federal Circuit granted a writ of mandamus to transfer a patent infringement case from the Eastern District of Texas to the Northern District of California because the latter had some local interest in the case, while the former had none.

In an order issued on May 4, 2018, a Western District of Wisconsin Court addressed venue issues relating to subsidiaries of the same parent. Plaintiff Unity Opto Technology Co. (“Unity”) sued defendants Lowe’s Home Centers, LLC (“Lowe’s”) and LG Sourcing, Inc. (“LG Sourcing”) for patent infringement. Defendants moved to dismiss the case for improper venue or, alternatively, to transfer venue to the Western District of North Carolina. Lowe’s has a place of business in the Western District of Wisconsin, but defendants denied that LG Sourcing has a place of business there. Defendants argued that the cases should be transferred to the Western District of North Carolina because venue is proper there for both defendants, and it would be inefficient to sever the case.

A three-judge panel of the Federal Circuit denied a mandamus motion from Marten Transport, Ltd. requesting that Judge Gilstrap in the Eastern District of Texas promptly rule on its transfer motion. Marten filed its Writ of Mandamus on January 11, 2016. At that time, its transfer motion had been pending for over six months and briefing had been completed for over five months.