Kason Industries, Inc. v. Dent Design Hardware Ltd.

952 F. Supp. 2d 1334, 2013 WL 3333103, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94149
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedJune 7, 2013
DocketCivil Action No. 3:12-cv-171-TCB
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 952 F. Supp. 2d 1334 (Kason Industries, Inc. v. Dent Design Hardware Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kason Industries, Inc. v. Dent Design Hardware Ltd., 952 F. Supp. 2d 1334, 2013 WL 3333103, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94149 (N.D. Ga. 2013).

Opinion

ORDER

TIMOTHY C. BATTEN, SR., District Judge.

This case comes before the Court on Defendant Dent Design Hardware, Ltd.’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction [11] and Plaintiff Kason Industries, Inc.’s motion for jurisdictional discovery [18].

I. Background

Kason is a corporation specializing in refrigeration hardware. It is incorporated in New York and has its principal place of business in Newnan, Georgia. Kason is the owner of U.S. Patent No. 7,870,642 (“the § 642 patent”), which issued on January 18, 2011. That patent is directed to the design of a lateral adjuster for commercial refrigeration door hinges.

Dent is the owner of adjustable hinge D690, which Kason claims infringes the § 642 patent. Dent is incorporated in Pennsylvania with its principal place of business in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Kason avers that “this Court has personal jurisdiction over Dent because it has knowingly and actively engaged in acts that have infringed, will infringe, and/or aid and abet in the direct infringement of claims of Kason’s patent” in this judicial district. Further, Kason avers that within this judicial district Dent has “made and continues to make, has offered to sell and continues to offer to sell, has sold and [1337]*1337continues to sell, has used and continues to use, and/or has imported and continues to import commercial refrigeration door hinges that infringe valid and enforceable claims of Kason’s patent.”

On November 2 and 15, 2012, Kason sent letters to Dent’s president, Tim Dodge, notifying Dent that its D690 hinge infringed the § 642 patent. Dent continues to sell the hinge.

On December 3, Kason filed this patent infringement action. Dent subsequently filed a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.

A. First Dodge Declaration

In support of its motion, Dent submits the declaration of Dodge and several exhibits. In his declaration, Dodge states that Dent has only one place of business, which is in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; has a total of only seven employees; has no offices, manufacturing plants or distribution facilities in Georgia; has never been registered to do business here; has no employees, distributors or sales representatives residing or working in Georgia; pays no taxes here; does not target Georgia through print, television, radio or Internet advertising; does not own, rent, lease or occupy any real or personal property here; maintains no accounts in any financial institutions in Georgia; and is not listed in any telephone, business or other informational directory in Georgia. Dodge further declares that Dent has never solicited sales in Georgia; however, over the last six years it has made sporadic unsolicited sales of 271 replacement engine access cowling hinge assemblies to Blue Bird Corporation, a school bus manufacturer located in Georgia. According to Dodge’s declaration, Dent’s only sales in Georgia have been to either Blue Bird or Emily Chamberlin, who purchased $486.84 worth of accused hinges in September and October 2012. The sales to Chamberlin were in response to her email and telephone inquiries for an adjustable door hinge for a business she identified as Poke Press Repair. Dent later discovered that Chamberlin is the wife of David Katz-doft, Kason’s national sales manager, and that there is no business registered as Poke Press Repair in Georgia. Finally, Dodge states that Dent maintains a website, www.dent-mfg.com that includes an order form for requesting products from Dent. All of Dent’s exhibits relate to Chamberlin’s orders.

B. Finkelstein’s Declaration

Although a significant portion of Dodge’s declaration is dedicated to detailing Chamberlin’s purchases, Kason does not rely on those transactions to establish jurisdiction. Instead, through the declaration of its vice president of operations, Burl M. Finkelstein, it points to other contacts Dent has with Georgia. Finkelstein first explains that the commercial refrigeration hardware industry essentially has three types of customers: original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), replacement hardware distributors and consumers, who include commercial equipment owners. OEMs purchase and incorporate certain hardware into the final products they manufacture, such as commercial refrigerators. Replacement hardware distributors act as middlemen, warehousing and selling hardware to consumers who need the original hardware on their equipment replaced.

Finkelstein states that Dent’s products are incorporated into refrigerated equipment by at least two OEMs. First, International Cold Storage (“ICS”) sells commercial refrigeration units that include Dent components to customers in Georgia through its website. ICS also “works with” ThermalRite and CrownTonka to [1338]*1338produce walk-in coolers, which incorporate Dent hardware. ThermalRite encourages consumers to find local representatives such as Premier Equipment Group, Inc., located in Georgia. Additionally, Dent’s products are incorporated into refrigeration units sold by OEM Bally Refrigerated Boxes, Inc. Bally has sold and “may still sell” a high volume of units to consumers in Georgia, including McDonald’s restaurants. Carman-Girard Associates, located in Atlanta, is a representative for Bally supporting Bally equipment needing replacement parts or repair.

According to Finkelstein, Dent also has at least three known distributors of its parts that sell to the Georgia market. SupplyDirect, Inc., located in Georgia, promotes and offers for sale ninety-eight Dent products and boasts on its website that it caters to local customers. Refrigeration Hardware Supply Corporation (“RHS”) is also a Dent distributor, selling the D690 hinge in its catalog. And Franklin Machine Products (“FMP”) promotes and sells Dent products through its website.

Along with Finkelstein’s declaration, Kason submits several exhibits, which include pages from Dent’s website, the relevant pages of Dent’s catalog, pages from SupplyDireet’s website www.KitchenStuff.com, selected pages from RHS’s catalog, a page from FMP’s website, a page from ICS’s website, and pages from ThermalRite’s website.

C. Dodge’s Supplemental Declaration 1

In its reply brief in support of its motion, Dent submits a supplemental declaration from Dodge. In that declaration, Dodge states that Dent sells products to only three distributors: RHS, located in Colorado and California; FMS, located in New Jersey; and Case Parts, located in Missouri, California and Washington. These distributors carry a limited number of Dent products, which are sold as replacement parts for use with equipment that has been in the field more than ten years. Dent is unaware of sales from these distributors to customers in Georgia. Further, Dent is unaware of any sales to Georgia customers from OEMs Bally or ICS (neither of which operates facilities in Georgia), or ICS’s affiliates ThermalRite or CrownTonka, which are not located in Georgia either. As to SupplyDirect, Premier Equipment Group, and Carman-Girard Associates, Dent has no relationship with these companies and has no knowledge as to whether these companies are selling actual Dent parts.

Further, Dodge declares that the D690 adjustable hinge that is at issue in this action is a specialty hinge only available directly from Dent.

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952 F. Supp. 2d 1334, 2013 WL 3333103, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94149, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kason-industries-inc-v-dent-design-hardware-ltd-gand-2013.