Cray Inc. v. Raytheon Co.

179 F. Supp. 3d 977, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46795, 2016 WL 1322348
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedApril 5, 2016
DocketCASE NO. C15-1127JLR
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 179 F. Supp. 3d 977 (Cray Inc. v. Raytheon Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cray Inc. v. Raytheon Co., 179 F. Supp. 3d 977, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46795, 2016 WL 1322348 (W.D. Wash. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS FOR LACK OF PERSONAL JURISDICTION

JAMES L. ROBART, United States District Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

Before the court is Defendant Raytheon Company’s motion to dismiss Plaintiff Cray Inc.’s amended complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction. (Mot. (Dkt. # 37); see also Am. Compl; (Dkt. #29).) In its amended complaint, Cray alleges that Ray-theon misappropriated Cray’s high performance computing (“HPC”) technology, used that technology to apply for several patents, failed to disclose Cray’s technology to the Patent Office as relevant prior art, failed to inform the Patent Office that Cray was an inventor of the HPC technology, and having received several patents based on Cray’s technology, has accused Cr.ay of infringing those patents. (See Am. Compl. ¶¶ 9-11, 17-30.) Cray brings claims for (1) a declaratory judgment that Cray does not infringe four of Raytheon’s patents (“the Patents-in-Suit”),1 (2) a declaratory judgment that two of the Patents-in-Suit are unenforceable for inequitable conduct, (3) a declaratory judgment that the same two patents are unenforceable for unclean hands, (4) correction of inventor-ship related to the same two patents,2 (5) breach of contract, (6) unjust enrichment, and (7) conversion. (See id. ¶¶ 31-123.)

Raytheon moves to dismiss this case on the ground that this court does not have personal jurisdiction over Raytheon for any of the claims in Cray’s amended complaint. (See Mot, at 6-8.) The court has considered the motion, all submissions filed in support- thereof and opposition thereto, the balance of the record, and the [980]*980applicable law. Being fully advised,3 the court GRANTS in part and DENIES in part Raytheon’s motion for the reasons set forth below.

II. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

Cray is a Washington corporation that has its principal place of business in Seattle, Washington, and “is a worldwide leader in advanced supercomputing.” (Am. Compl. ¶ 1.) Raytheon is Delaware corporation that has its principal place of business in Waltham, Massachusetts, and “is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cy-bersecurity markets throughout the world.” (Mot. at 9-10; Am. Compl. ¶ 2.) In addition, Raytheon “has been a leader in the HPC field” and has been awarded “numerous” patents for its HPC innovations, including the Patents-in-Suit. (Mot. at 10.) “No longer actively engaged in the HPC market,” Raytheon now licenses its HPC technology to HPC manufacturers such as Cray. (Id. at 10-11; see id.', Resp. (Dkt. # 41) at 7.)

Cray alleges that in 2002 it entered into a contract with Sandia National Laboratories (“Sandia”) related to the development of an HPC system known as “Red Storm.” (Am. Compl. ¶ 18.)- As part of the pre-contract bidding process and post-contract development of Red Storm, Cray submitted to Sandia representatives confidential and propriety information regarding the design and operation of Red Storm, including information on Cray’s “SeaStar interconnect chip.” (Id. ¶ 19.) Among the Sandia representatives to which' Cray submitted this information was an oversight committee that was responsible for validating and challenging Cray’s design of Red Storm. (Id.) Former Raytheon employee James Ballew was an external member of the oversight committee. (Id. ¶¶20, 23 (alleging that emails “sent and received by Mr. Ballew in his role as a member of oversight committee [sic] used a ‘raytheon.com’ email address”); see also Mot. at 7, 25.)

Cray alleges that as part of Mr. Ballev/s participation on the oversight committee, Mr. Ballew “worked and interacted with Cray employees residing in its Seattle, Washington office” (Am. Compl. ¶ 22), and that . Cray “disclosed to Mr. Ballew confidential and proprietary details concerning its design of the Red Storm system. Such information included technical details concerning the interconnect of the Red Storm system... ” (id. ¶ 20; see also id. ¶ 21). According to Cray, Mr. Ballew had an obligation to “hold Cray’s confidential and proprietary information in confidence.” (Id. ¶ 24.)

In addition, Cray alleges that it entered into three non-disclosure agreements (“NDAs”) with Raytheon or a Raytheon agent between November 18, 2003, and February 20, 2004. (See id. ¶¶ 25-27.) All three NDAs specified that Cray is a Washington corporation and provided that Cray was to disclose confidential and proprietary information to Raytheon for Raytheon to evaluate the possibility of using Cray products. (See id. (noting that the third NDA provided for disclosure to Raytheon of confidential information regarding Red Storm).) Cray further alleges that “[d]ur-ing the development of the Red Storm System, Cray disclosed extensive confidential and proprietary information to Ray-theon, both to Mr. Ballew and others at Raytheon.” (Id. ¶ 28.)

According to Cray, on April 15, 2004, following Cray’s “extensive disclosure of confidential and proprietary information concerning its Red Storm system, including the associated SeaStar interconnect chip,” Raytheon and Mr. Ballew filed United States Patent Application No. 10/824,-874 (“the ’874 Application”). (Id. ¶¶ 28-29.) This application “was the patent application leading to the ’909 and ’833 [P]atents,” [981]*981both of which list Mr. Ballew as an inventor. (Id. ¶¶20, 28.) The ’874 Application “contained technical information similar or identical to information disclosed to Mr. Ballew and Raytheon by Cray concerning the Red Storm system,” (Id. ¶29.) Furthermore, Cray maintains that “Mr. Bal-lew and others at Raytheon intentionally acquired a substantial portion of this information from Cray and its employees located in Washington.” (Id.; see also id. ¶¶21 (“[T]he Cray personnel primarily responsible for the SeaStar interconnect design that was incorporated into the Red Storm system resided and worked in Washington.”), 54.) Cray also asserts that in prosecuting the ’909 and ’833 Patents, Raytheon failed to inform the Patent Office that Cray was an inventor of the .subject technology and that Cray’s Red Storm system and SeaStar interconnect were material prior art. (See, e.g., id. ¶¶ 54-68, 79-86.)

In early 2015, Raytheon engaged a Dallas-based patent-licensing firm, International Patent Licensing Co., LLC (“IPLC”), to offer Raytheon’s HPC technology to Cray. (See Stringfield Deck (Dkt. #39) ¶ 2, Ex. 1 (“3/20/15 Letter”).) IPLC sent Cray a March 20, 2015, letter identifying four Raytheon patents and explaining how certain Cray products or services mapped onto those patents. (See id.; Stringfield Decl. ¶ 3, Exs. 2-4.) According to Raytheon, the purpose of the letter was to negotiate a license agreement with Cray that would be fair and beneficial to both parties. (See Mot.

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179 F. Supp. 3d 977, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46795, 2016 WL 1322348, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cray-inc-v-raytheon-co-wawd-2016.