In re HTC Corp.

889 F.3d 1349
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedMay 9, 2018
Docket2018-130
StatusPublished
Cited by52 cases

This text of 889 F.3d 1349 (In re HTC Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re HTC Corp., 889 F.3d 1349 (Fed. Cir. 2018).

Opinion

Prost, Chief Judge.

ORDER

HTC Corporation petitions for a writ of mandamus directing the United States District Court for the District of Delaware to (a) vacate its December 18, 2017 order denying-in-part HTC Corporation's motion to dismiss for improper venue under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(3) ; and (b) dismiss the complaint against HTC Corporation. 3G Licensing, S.A., Orange S.A., and Koninklijke KPN N.V. (collectively, "Respondents") oppose.

In January 2017, Respondents filed their patent infringement suit against HTC Corporation, a Taiwanese corporation with its principal place of business in Taiwan, and its wholly owned U.S. based subsidiary, HTC America, Inc., a Washington corporation with its principal place of business in Seattle, Washington. In June 2017, after Respondents filed their second amended complaint, HTC Corporation and HTC America filed a motion to dismiss for improper venue pursuant to Rule 12(b)(3) or, in the alternative, to transfer the case to the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1404(a) or 1406(a).

In its December 18, 2017 order, the district court found that venue was not proper as to HTC America but was proper as to HTC Corporation. App. 1-7. Following *1352the order, Respondents voluntarily dismissed their suit against HTC America without prejudice. HTC Corporation now files this mandamus petition seeking dismissal for improper venue.1

DISCUSSION

A writ of mandamus is a drastic remedy available only in extraordinary circumstances. Such a writ may issue only where the following conditions are met: (1) the petitioner must have no other adequate means to attain the relief desired; (2) the petitioner must demonstrate a "clear and indisputable" right to the issuance of the writ; and (3) "even if the first two prerequisites have been met, the issuing court, in the exercise of its discretion, must be satisfied that the writ is appropriate under the circumstances." Cheney v. U.S. Dist. Court for D.C. , 542 U.S. 367, 380-81, 124 S.Ct. 2576, 159 L.Ed.2d 459 (2004).

I

A party seeking mandamus must demonstrate that it has "no other adequate means to attain the relief [it] desires." Cheney , 542 U.S. at 380, 124 S.Ct. 2576 (quoting Kerr v. U.S. Dist. Court for N. Dist. of Cal. , 426 U.S. 394, 403, 96 S.Ct. 2119, 48 L.Ed.2d 725 (1976) ). This requirement is "designed to ensure that the writ will not be used as a substitute for the regular appeals process." Id. at 380-81, 124 S.Ct. 2576.

The mandamus petition in this case is based on the denial of a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(3) or, alternatively, to transfer under § 1406(a), for improper venue.2 While this court has granted mandamus petitions based on the denial of motions to transfer under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) with some frequency,3 we have done so less frequently with respect to petitions based on the denial of motions under § 1406(a) asserting improper venue. See In re Cray Inc. , 871 F.3d 1355, 1367 (Fed. Cir. 2017) ; In re Micron Tech., Inc. , 875 F.3d 1091, 1102 (Fed. Cir. 2017). This divergence, in part, relates to the first requirement for granting mandamus-that the mandamus petitioner have no other adequate means to attain the relief desired.4

Unlike a defendant challenging the denial of a § 1404(a) transfer motion,5 *1353a defendant aggrieved by the denial of an improper-venue motion has an adequate remedy on appeal from a final judgment. Specifically, if after judgment venue is determined to have been improper, and the improper-venue objection was not waived, the appellants "will be entitled to assert it on appeal and, if the objection is sustained, obtain from [the appeals] court an order vacating the judgment ... and directing the remand of the action to the [appropriate venue]." Gulf Research & Dev. Co. v. Leahy , 193 F.2d 302, 304-05 (3d Cir. 1951) ; see id. ("[A]n appeal in this action will be just as adequate as in any other case where an objection to jurisdiction or venue is overruled by the trial court and after a trial on the merits the objection is sustained on appeal from the final judgment." (footnote omitted) ); Chi., R.I. & P.R. Co. v. Igoe , 212 F.2d 378, 381 (7th Cir. 1954) ("[A]ny judgment entered in the cause is a nullity, an error correctible on appeal."); cf. Lexecon Inc. v. Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach , 523 U.S. 26

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Bluebook (online)
889 F.3d 1349, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-htc-corp-cafc-2018.