Hologic, Inc. v. Minerva Surgical, Inc.

163 F. Supp. 3d 118, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25195, 2016 WL 789349
District Court, D. Delaware·Decided February 29, 2016·No. Civ. No. 15-1031-SLR·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM ORDER

SUE L. ROBINSON, United States District Judge

At Wilmington this 29th day of February, 2016, having reviewed the motions filed by defendant Minerva Surgical, Inc. (“Minerva”) to transfer venue and to strike plaintiffs’ preliminary injunction motion for lack of standing, and the papers filed in connection thereto;

IT IS ORDERED that Minerva’s motion to transfer (D.1.35) is denied, for the reasons that follow:

1. Minerva moves to transfer this action to the Northern District of California, where it maintains its headquarters and sole place of business. The analytical framework for motions to transfer pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) are well known and will not be repeated here. See, e.g., In re Link_A_Media Devices Corp., 662 F.3d 1221 (Fed.Cir.2011); Jumara v. State Farm, Ins. Co., 55 F.3d 873 (3d Cir.1995); Helicos Biosciences Corp v. Illumina, Inc., 858 F.Supp.2d 367 (D.Del.2012). I have gleaned the following from the above case law: A plaintiff, as the injured party, has the privilege of initiating its litigation in the forum it chooses. A defendant’s place of incorporation is always an appropriate forum in which to sue that defendant. The purpose of § 1404(a) is not to usurp plaintiffs choice, but to give courts the discretion to transfer if the interests of justice so dictate. The Third Circuit in Jumara gave the courts some factors to balance in making their determination, keeping the above tenets in mind. The Jumara factors should be viewed through a contemporary lens. In this regard, I have declined to transfer based on the location of potential witnesses and of books and records, as discovery is a local event,1 and trial is a limited event.2 With respect to the factor related to “administrative difficulty from court congestion,” the case management orders always start with the schedules proposed by the litigators. It has been my experience that most litigators (especially those representing defendants) are in no hurry to resolve the dispute. If there is a need to expedite proceedings, that need is accommodated. In sum, this factor generally is neutral.

2. Minerva argues that, because it is a start-up company with only one product — the accused product — and no [121] sales yet in Delaware,3 the balance of hardships weigh in favor of transfer. With respect to the lack of ties to Delaware but for incorporation, even it that were the case,4 the place of incorporation reflects a company’s recognition that Delaware is an appropriate jurisdiction for resolution of commercial disputes through litigation. See, e.g., Micron Technology, Inc. v. Rambus Inc., 645 F.3d 1311, 1332 (Fed.Cir.2011). Flaving accepted the benefits of incorporation under the laws of the State of Delaware, “a company should not be successful in arguing that litigation” in Delaware is “inconvenient,” “absent some showing of a unique or unexpected burden.” ADE Corp. v. KLA-Tencor Corp., 138 F.Supp.2d 565, 573 (D.Del.2001). In this case, Minerva asserts that it does not have the financial resources to litigate in Delaware; in contrast, plaintiff Hologic, Inc. (“Hologic”), which is headquartered in Massachusetts, not only has the resources to litigate in California, but has done so in the past.5

3. I recognize that litigating in Delaware may be a more expensive exercise for Minerva than litigating in California.6 Under the circumstances at bar, however — a first-filed ease between Delaware corporations that does not implicate the state laws of another jurisdiction — I decline to elevate the convenience of one party over the other. “The burden of establishing the need for transfer ... rests with the movant.” Jumara, 55 F.3d at 879. The record at bar does not reflect (and I am not persuaded) that litigating in Delaware imposes a unique or unexpected burden on Minerva, such that transfer is warranted.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Minerva’s motion to strike (D.1.52) is denied, for the reasons that follow:

4. Minerva has filed a motion to strike Hologic’s pending motion for a preliminary injunction based on Hologic’s alleged lack of standing. As presented by Minerva, Hologic lacks standing because, at the time of filing the complaint, the patents in dispute7 were owned by plaintiff Cytyc Surgical Products LLC (“Cytyc”), a Massachusetts company and wholly owned subsidiary of Hologic. According to Minerva, because Cytyc is a patent holding company and non-operating entity, Cytyc “alone could not have prevailed (and likely would never even have brought) a motion for preliminary relief on its own.” (D.l. 52 at 3)

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Hologic, Inc. v. Minerva Surgical, Inc., 163 F. Supp. 3d 118, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25195, 2016 WL 789349 (D. Del. 2016).

163 F. Supp. 3d 118 (Hologic, Inc. v. Minerva Surgical, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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