IP Litigator Publishes Muñoz, Underwood Article on Forum Selection in Patent Litigation
Contact:
For its November/December issue, IP Litigator has published an article by Akin Gump intellectual property partner Rubén Muñoz and counsel Jonathan Underwood that was originally written for Akin Gump’s IP Newsflash blog and titled “Despite TC Heartland, Forum Selection Clause Controls Venue in Patent Dispute.”
The article discusses a 2020 district court ruling in Sundesa, LLC v. IQ Formulations, LLC that the exclusive statute for determining venue in patent cases does not override the parties’ prior agreement on where suit could be brought and that transfer to another district under forum non-coveniens was not merited, and analyzes the elements of the case and the court’s decision. This case is contrasted to the U.S. Supreme Court’s May 2017 decision in TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC.
The authors close by noting that “A party seeking to extricate itself from a forum selection clause has a heavy burden. Despite TC Heartland’s significant effect on patent litigation, even agreements that predate the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision will not be discarded lightly.”
To read the full article, click here.
