Columbia Sportswear North America, Inc. v. Seirus Innovative Accessories, Inc.

265 F. Supp. 3d 1196
CourtDistrict Court, D. Oregon
DecidedSeptember 5, 2017
DocketNo. 3:15-cv-00064-HZ
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 265 F. Supp. 3d 1196 (Columbia Sportswear North America, Inc. v. Seirus Innovative Accessories, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Columbia Sportswear North America, Inc. v. Seirus Innovative Accessories, Inc., 265 F. Supp. 3d 1196 (D. Or. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION & ORDER

MARCO A. HERNÁNDEZ, United States District Judge

Before the Court is Defendant’s motion to dismiss or transfer venue to the Southern District of California. Defendant argues that venue is improper in this District under the Supreme Court’s recent decision in TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, - U.S. -, 137 S.Ct. 1514, 197 L.Ed.2d 816 (2017). Because TC Heartland constitutes an intervening change in law, the motion is granted and the Court orders that this case be transferred to the Southern District of California.

BACKGROUND

I. Procedural Background

Plaintiff filed its Complaint in the District of Oregon on January 1, 2015. See Compl. ECF 1. Plaintiff is an Oregon corporation with its principal place of business in Oregon. Defendant is a Utah corporation with its principal place of business in San Diego, California. On February 27, 2015, Defendant filed its first motion to dismiss or' transfer venue. See First Mot. to Dismiss, ECF 15. Specifically, Defendant moved under Rule 12(b)(3) to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. Defendant asserted that venue was improper' because Oregon did not have personal jurisdiction over if, therefore Defendant did not “reside” iñ Oregon under 28 U.S.C. § 1391(c). Def.’s Mem, Supp. First Mot. to Dismiss 10-16, ECF 16. Additionally, Defendant argued that the convenience factors provided in 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) favored transfer to the Southern District of California. The Court denied the motion, holding that it had “personal jurisdiction over Seirus because it intentionally targeted the forum by selling allegedly infringing products directly to Oregon retailers.” Op. & Order 2, June 29, 2015, ECF 33. The Court also found that the parties split the mul-ti-factor analysis under § 1404(a) and it deferred to Plaintiffs choice of venue. Id.

To' date, the parties have litigated this case up to trial. The Court engaged in claim construction and held a Markman hearing. The Court also granted the parties’ joint motion for judgment declaring Plaintiffs Design Patent valid. Before the close of discovery, the Court granted Plaintiffs motion for . partial summary judgment that Defendant infringed its Design Patent. Additionally, the Court ruled on separate fully briefed cross-motions for partial summary . judgment regarding Plaintiffs Utility Patents and other issues [1199]*1199remaining in this case. See Op. & Order, Apr. 12, 2017, ECF 159. Defendant filed its second motion to dismiss or transfer venue on June 14,2017. A ten-day jury trial is set to begin on September 19, 2017, and the Court has received voluminous pre-trial filings.

II. Legal Background

, Defendant’s motion arises from the Supreme Court and. Federal Circuit’s differing interpretations of the relationship between two venue, statutes. Venue in general is governed by 28 U.S.C. § 1391(c). Venue in patent cases is governed by 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b), which provides: “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.” In 1957, the Supreme Court analyzed the relationship between the two provisions in Fourco Glass Co. v. Transmirra Prods. Corp., 353 U.S. 222, 77 S.Ct. 787, 1 L.Ed.2d 786 (1957). When Fourco was decided, § 1391(c) had been amended to read: “A corporation may be sued in any judicial district in which it is incorporated or licensed to do business of is doing business, and such judicial district shall be regarded as the residence of such corporation for venue purposes.” Id. at 223, 77 S.Ct. 787. The Supreme Court considered whether the general venue provision should be read into § 1400(b), expanding the definition of where a domestic corporation “resides” for venue purposes. Section 1400(b) provided that a corporation “resides” only in the state in which it is incorporated; § 1391(c), by contrast, used the definition of corporate residence to mean that a defendant could be sued where it was doing business, or in other words, where the court had personal jurisdiction over it.

In Fourco, the Supreme Court looked to its prior decision in Stonite Prods. Co. v. Melvin Lloyd Co., 315 U.S. 561, 62 S.Ct. 780, 86 L.Ed. 1026 (1942), which presented a-legally indistinguishable question about whether the general venue statute applied to patent infringement litigation. In Stonite, the Court found that the precursor to § 1400(b) was the “exclusive provision controlling venue in patent infringement proceedings.” Id. at 561, 62 S.Ct. 780. The Stonite Court explained that Congress did not intend § 1400(b)’s predecessor “to dovetail with the general provisions relating to venue of civil suits, but rather that-it alone should control venue in patent infringement cases.” Id. at 555-56, 62 S.Ct. 780. Relying on Stonite, the Court in Four-co held that “§ 1400(b) is the sole and exclusive provision controlling venue in patent infringement actions, and it is not to be supplemented by the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1391(c).” 353 U.S. at 229, 77 S.Ct. 787. The Supreme Court found that the Reviser’s Note did not clearly express any substantive change to § 1400(b), therefore none would be presumed and § 1391(c)’s amendment to purportedly apply to “all cases” did not include patent cases. Id. at 227-28, 77 S.Ct. 787.

Section 1400(b) has not been amended since Fourco was decided; but in 1988, Congress amended § 1391(c). The 1988 amendment changed § 1391(c) to read as follows: “For purposes of venue under this chapter, a defendant that is a corporation shall be deemed to reside in any judicial district in which it is subject to personal jurisdiction at the time the action is commenced.” Judicial Improvements and Access to Justice Act, Pub. L. No. 100-702, tit. X, § 1013(a), 102 Stat. 4642, 4669 (1988). In VE Holding Corp. v. Johnson Gas Appliance Co., the Federal Circuit considered whether the 1988 amendment to § 1391(c) applied to § 1400(b). 917 F.2d 1574 (1990). The Federal Circuit found. [1200]*1200that by including the phrase “under this chapter,” Congress intended § 1391(c)’s amendment to apply to all of chapter 87 of title 28, which included § 1400(b). Id. at 1575 (“We hold that Congress by its 1988 amendment of 28 U.S.C. § 1391(c) meant what it said; the meaning of the term ‘resides’ in § 1400(b) has changed.”).

The Federal Circuit squared its decision with Fourco and Stonite

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Bluebook (online)
265 F. Supp. 3d 1196, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/columbia-sportswear-north-america-inc-v-seirus-innovative-accessories-ord-2017.