Jeffrey Galion, Inc. v. Joy Manufacturing Co.

323 F. Supp. 261, 168 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 708, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14858
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. West Virginia
DecidedJanuary 28, 1971
DocketCiv. A. No. 68-10-C
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 323 F. Supp. 261 (Jeffrey Galion, Inc. v. Joy Manufacturing Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. West Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jeffrey Galion, Inc. v. Joy Manufacturing Co., 323 F. Supp. 261, 168 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 708, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14858 (N.D.W. Va. 1971).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

MAXWELL, Chief Judge.

Plaintiff, Jeffrey Gabon, Inc., an Ohio corporation, complains that defendant, Joy Manufacturing Company, a [262]*262Pennsylvania corporation, has infringed plaintiff’s patent on a coal mining machine sold to and used by Consolidation Coal Company at one of its coal mines located within the Northern Judicial District of West Virginia.

Defendant has moved to dismiss plaintiff’s complaint because of improper venue or to transfer the action to the United States District Court in the Western District of Pennsylvania, or, in the further alternative, to transfer the action to the Fairmont point of holding Court in the Northern District of West Virginia.

Joy Manufacturing Company, as plaintiff, has commenced a patent infringement action in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, against Jeffrey Galion, Inc., defendant, Civil Action No. 69-1115, to have defendant’s mining machine patent declared invalid. By order entered on November 5, 1969, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, proceedings in said Civil Action No. 69-1115 were stayed pending decision in this action in the Northern District of West Virginia.

The record before the Court is complete with stipulations, depositions, interrogatories and affidavits. This action is matured for the Court’s consideration of the defendant’s motion to dismiss or to transfer.

Three principal propositions are advanced by defendant as bases for its motion to dismiss or transfer:

(1) Defendant did not commit any acts of patent infringement in the Northern District of West Virginia, as in the complaint charged.

(2) Defendant has no regular and established place of business in the Northern District of West Virginia.

(3) For convenience of parties and witnesses, the action should be transferred to the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania wherein initially it might have been brought.

Three statutes are of immediate interest.

Venue for patent infringement actions is defined in 28 U.S.C.A. Section 1400(b) in this language:

(b) 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.

Change in venue for the convenience of parties and witnesses is authorized by language in 28 U.S.C.A. Section 1404(a):

(a) For the convenience of parties and witnesses, in the interest of justice, a district court may transfer any civil action to any other district or division where it might have been brought.

Action by the Court to dismiss or transfer a case laying venue in the wrong district is directed in 28 U.S.C.A. Section 1406(a):

(a) The district court of a district in which is filed a case laying venue in the wrong division or district shall dismiss, or if it be in the interest of justice, transfer such case to any district or division in which it could have been brought.

Briefs of counsel and independent research suggest that this is one of few patent infringement cases where, at this relatively early stage of the litigation, the Court must descend to the depth of the issue as to defendant's “regular and established place of business.”

Plaintiff, in its brief, recognizes that defendant, a Pennsylvania corporation, is not a resident of the Northern District of West Virginia, thereby removing from further consideration here the first clause of the venue statute, Section 1400(b), above quoted. The second conjunctive clause of the statute requires a showing that defendant has committed acts of infringement in the District and has a regular and established place of business in the Dis[263]*263trict. “The burden of proof is upon the plaintiffs to show proper venue.” Scaramucci v. FMC Corporation, 258 F.Supp. 598 (D.C.W.D.Okl.1966). This requires plaintiff to establish both statute requisites. The patent infringement statute is exclusive, unaided by other venue statutes. Fourco Glass Co. v. Transmirra Products Corp., 353 U.S. 222, 77 S.Ct. 787, 1 L.Ed.2d 786 (1957); American Cyanamid Co. v. Nopco Chemical Co., 388 F.2d 818 (4th Cir. 1968).

The venue requirement that defendant has committed acts of patent infringement in the District has been a controversial subject in the depositions, interrogatories and briefs. The patent statute provides that “whoever without authority makes, uses or sells any patented invention, within the United States during the term of the patent therefor, infringes the patent” and further provides that “Whoever actively induces infringement of a patent shall be liable as an infringer.” 35 U.S.C.A. Section 271.

The record now before the Court does not satisfy plaintiff’s burden of proof that defendant has committed acts of patent infringement in the District. See Clearasite Headwear, Inc. v. Paramount Cap Manufacturing Co., 204 F.Supp. 4 (D.C.S.D.N.Y.1962).

The more critical issue, however, is whether defendant “has a regular and established place of business” in the Northern District of West Virginia. This language in the patent venue statute may not be expanded by other venue statutes and doctrines. The concept of “doing business” and the reach of the “long-arm” statutes are not here involved. Knapp-Monarch Co. v. Casco Products Corp., 342 F.2d 622 (7th Cir. 1965). See Annotation, 20 A.L.R.3d 1957 (1968). Good reasons exist for making the patent venue statute explicit. Ruth v. Eagle-Picher Co., 225 F.2d 572 (10th Cir. 1955).

Plaintiff states in the complaint that defendant has “a regular and established place of business at Minor Avenue, Fairmont, Marion County, West Virginia.” Defendants interrogatories to plaintiff made inquiry as to the factual basis for the complaint statement. Excerpts from plaintiff’s answers to the interrogatories follow:

Interrogatory No. 3:1. “Specifically enumerate the factual basis for the allegation in the Complaint that defendant has a regular and established place of business at Minor Avenue, Fairmont, Marion County, West Virginia.”
ANSWER: Defendant is the owner of and for some time past has owned property on Minor Avenue in Fairmont, Marion County, West Virginia, on which a building is located in which defendant has an office, warehouse and repair shop and regularly carries on business, including the sale and repairing of mining equipment. Defendant has owned this property since 1941. Defendant is listed in the Fairmont telephone directory and in the yellow pages thereof under the heading “Mining Equipment and Supplies.” On information and belief, defendant now has, and for many years has had, several regular employees at that location.
Interrogatory No. 3:2.

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323 F. Supp. 261, 168 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 708, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14858, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jeffrey-galion-inc-v-joy-manufacturing-co-wvnd-1971.