Endless Pools, Inc. v. Wave Tec Pools, Inc.

362 F. Supp. 2d 578, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4078, 2004 WL 3239671
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 16, 2005
DocketCivil Action 04-4725
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 362 F. Supp. 2d 578 (Endless Pools, Inc. v. Wave Tec Pools, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Endless Pools, Inc. v. Wave Tec Pools, Inc., 362 F. Supp. 2d 578, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4078, 2004 WL 3239671 (E.D. Pa. 2005).

Opinion

ORDER AND MEMORANDUM

DuBOIS, District Judge.

ORDER

AND NOW, this 16th day of March, 2005, upon consideration of Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs Suit for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction and Improper Venue (Document No. 4, filed), Plaintiff Endless Pools, Ine.’s Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs Suit for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction and Improper Venue (Document No. 9, filed January 12, 2005), and the related submissions of the parties, for the reasons set forth in the attached Memorandum, IT IS ORDERED that Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs Suit for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction and Improper Venue is DENIED.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a Preliminary Pretrial Conference will be scheduled in due course.

MEMORANDUM

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff, Endless Pools, Inc. (“Endless Pools”), commenced this action against Wave Tec Pools, Inc. (“Wave Tec”) pursuant to the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125, for trademark infringement, use of false designations of origin and false representations in commerce, cyberpiracy, and common law trademark infringement and unfair competition. Wave Tec filed a Motion to Dismiss the Complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2), or in the alternative, for improper venue pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(3). For the reasons set forth below, Wave Tec’s Motion to Dismiss is denied.

II. FACTS 1

Plaintiff, a Pennsylvania corporation, is a manufacturer of counter-current swimming pools and water exercise machines. Defendant, a Texas Corporation with its principal place of business in Georgetown, Texas, manufacturers counter-current swimming pools and exercise machines similar to those manufactured by plaintiff.

On October 7, 2004, plaintiff filed a Complaint against Wave Tec alleging that Wave Tec adopted the confusingly similar mark, “Infinite Pools,” to identify its directly competitive counter-current swimming pools and water exercise machines in order to capitalize on Endless Pools goodwill and reputation. (Comp^ 9, 10). Plaintiff also alleges in the Complaint that Wave Tec purchased “Endless Pools” as a keyword from various Internet search engines and uses the term “endless swim” as a meta-tag in the source code of its website in an effort to divert customers searching for plaintiffs website to defendant’s website. Finally, in its Response to the Motion to Dismiss plaintiff alleges that as part of “Wave Tec’s scheme to capture Endless Pools’ notoriety and customer base,” Wave Tec hired a former Endless Pools employee, Steven Harad, as a sales representative in the eastern region of the *581 United States, which includes plaintiffs home state of Pennsylvania.

Presently before the Court is defendant’s Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction and Improper Venue. Wave Tec contends that it does not have the requisite contacts with the State of Pennsylvania to subject it to personal jurisdiction and that the case should be dismissed or transferred to the Western District of Texas.

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Rule 4(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure “authorizes personal jurisdiction over non-resident defendants to the extent permissible under the laws of the state where the district court sits.” Pennzoil Prods. Co. v. Colelli & Assocs., 149 F.3d 197, 200 (3d Cir.1998). Pennsylvania’s long arm statute permits courts to exercise personal jurisdiction over nonresident defendants “to the constitutional limits of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.” Id.

A court may obtain personal jurisdiction over a defendant in one of two ways. First, general jurisdiction is established when the defendant has engaged in “systematic and continuous” contacts with the forum state and the exercise of jurisdiction is “reasonable.” Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia v. Hall, 466 U.S. 408, 416, 104 S.Ct. 1868, 80 L.Ed.2d 404 (1984). Second, specific jurisdiction exists when the “claim is related to or arises out of the defendant’s contacts with the forum.” Mesalic v. Fiberfloat Corp., 897 F.2d 696, 699 (3d Cir.1990).

Once a defendant has filed a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, burden rests on the plaintiff to prove that jurisdiction exists in the forum state. IMO Indus., Inc. v. Kiekert AG, 155 F.3d 254, 257 (3d Cir.1998). When considering the motion, the court construes any factual averments and resolves all doubts in the plaintiffs favor. Pinker v. Roche Holdings Ltd., 292 F.3d 361, 368 (3d Cir.2002).

IV. DISCUSSION

A. Personal Jurisdiction
1. General Jurisdiction

To obtain general jurisdiction over a corporation in Pennsylvania, the corporation must either (1) be incorporated in Pennsylvania or licensed as a foreign corporation in the Commonwealth, (2) consent to jurisdiction, or (3) carry on a “continuous and systematic part of its general business” within the Commonwealth. 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 5301(a)(2)(2004).

Wave Tec, a Texas corporation, is not licensed to conduct business in Pennsylvania, nor did it consent to jurisdiction in this matter. Therefore, the only possible basis for exercising general jurisdiction over Wave Tec is that it maintained a “continuous and systematic” presence in Pennsylvania.

In analyzing whether Wave Tec is subject to general jurisdiction, “the Court should consider whether defendant’s activities in the forum are extensive and pervasive and are a continuous and central part of defendant’s business.” Automated Med. Prods. Corp. v. Int’l Hosp. Supply Corp., 1998 WL 54351, at *3, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1231, at *8 (E.D.Pa. Jan. 29, 1998) (DuBois, J.) (citing Provident Nat’l Bank v. California Fed. Savings and Loan Ass’n, 819 F.2d 434, 438 (3d Cir.1987)).

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362 F. Supp. 2d 578, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4078, 2004 WL 3239671, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/endless-pools-inc-v-wave-tec-pools-inc-paed-2005.