Kollmorgen Corp. v. Yaskawa Electric Corp.

169 F. Supp. 2d 530, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20572, 1999 WL 1678229
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Virginia
DecidedDecember 13, 1999
DocketCivil Action 99-308-R
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 169 F. Supp. 2d 530 (Kollmorgen Corp. v. Yaskawa Electric Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kollmorgen Corp. v. Yaskawa Electric Corp., 169 F. Supp. 2d 530, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20572, 1999 WL 1678229 (W.D. Va. 1999).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

TURK, District Judge.

This case is before the Court on the motion of Defendant Yaskawa Electric Corporation (“YEC”) to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2). In the alternative, both YEC and Defendant Yas-kawa Electric America, Inc. (“YEA”), move to have the case transferred to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, where YEA has its principal place of business.

Each side filed voluminous papers in support of its position. Arguments were heard by this Court on November 29,1999. For the reasons that follow, YEC’s motion to dismiss, or alternatively to transfer is denied, as is YEA’s motion to transfer.

I. OPERATIVE FACTS

Kollmorgen is a corporation, with its principal manufacturing facility in Rad-ford, Virginia, that manufactures electrical devices and components. (Mem. in Opp. at 4) In addition, Kollmorgen holds numerous patents, of which two-U.S. Patent Numbers 4,686,437 and 4,447,771-are the alleged subjects of infringement by defendants YEC and YEA. YEC is a Japanese corporation, based in Tokyo, and engaged in the same type of electrical design and manufacturing business as Kollmorgen. A view of a company website 1 reveals that YEC disburses its products globally through a network of wholly-owned subsidiaries in various countries. (<www.Yaska-wa.com>, visited Dec. 10, 1999). YEA, located in Waukegan, Illinois, is YEC’s American subsidiary. It is also the only company in the United States which transacts any business directly with YEC. YEA does not purchase goods from any other source besides YEC. Unlike a conventional distributor or sales agent, YEA actually purchases its entire inventory directly from YEC. 2 YEA then sells the products through its distribution channels to various customers nationwide. There is no evidence that YEC receives any direct share of YEA’s sales proceeds; rather, YEC’s benefit in this bargain is through YEA’s purchase of its products for resale in the United States. If YEA’s customers like the products, they will buy more from *532 YEA, who in turn will purchase more from YEC.

One such customer of YEA is Commonwealth Controls, which maintains an office in Roanoke. When Lane Brizendine, investigator for Kollmorgen’s counsel, visited Commonwealth Controls’ offices back in June, he asked for information regarding electrical controls “or other products made by Yaskawa.” (Brizendine Affid. at 2). In response, he was provided with a cata-logue, printed by YEA, containing detailed information and schematic drawings of various products available through Commonwealth Controls from YEA. 3

II. DISCUSSION: YEC’s MOTION TO DISMISS

The issue is whether YEC can be sued in the Western District of Virginia. During argument, YEA’s counsel acknowledged that YEA can be sued in the Western District because of its contacts with Commonwealth Controls. (Brizendine Aff. at 1) This admission is bolstered by YEA’s website, which contains a page listing “Virginia Contact Information.” (<http://Yas-kawa. com/products.nsf/ Region/VA?Open-Document;*, visited December 10, 1999). Commonwealth Controls is specifically listed on the page as Yaskawa’s “Motion Control Distributor”, and their website address is provided, along with address and phone numbers. Thus, the question becomes whether YEC’s contacts with and through YEA make it subject to the jurisdiction of this Court. For the reasons that follow, this Court finds that they do.

A. IN PERSONAM JURISDICTION

The assertion of personal jurisdiction hinges on satisfying two elements: (1) Virginia’s long-arm statute, and (2) the Due Process Clause. YEC’s business practices and its contacts bring it squarely within the ambit of the long-arm statute, and satisfy the Due Process requirements as well.

1. Virginia’s Long-Arm, Statute

Even in a purely Federal matter, such as a patent dispute, Federal courts apply the forum state’s long-arm statute to determine whether personal jurisdiction exists. See Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 4(e)-(f); See Beverly Hills Fan Co. v. Royal Sovereign Corp., 21 F.3d 1558, 1569, 30 U.S. P.Q.2d 1001 (Fed.Cir.1994). Virginia’s long-arm statute, VA Code Ann. § 8.01-328.1 (Michie 1999), has been construed repeatedly to be coequal in scope and reach to the Due Process Clause. See e.g., Carter v. Trafalgar Tours, Ltd., 704 F.Supp. 673, 675 (W.D.Va.l989)(Turk, C.J.) The question at this stage becomes whether any of the numerous long-arm provisions can be said to apply to YEC.

In their opening brief, Kollmorgen cites four long-arm provisions which it contends could apply in this case. (Mem. in Opp. at 21). They need not each be considered in detail, because one of them, Virginia Code Ann. § 8.01-328.1(A)(4), has been held by the Federal Circuit to include patent infringement cases like the one here. See Beverly Hills, 21 F.3d at 1571 (holding in a case with virtually identical facts to the *533 present controversy that all elements of Virginia’s long-arm statute section (A)(4) were met). Thus, Beverly Hills-which will be discussed in more detail later in this opinion-strongly supports a finding that YEC satisfies Virginia’s long-arm statute.

2. Due Process

“The Due Process Clause requires that, in order to subject a defendant who is ‘not present within the territory of the forum’ to personal jurisdiction, the court must first make sure that this party ‘ha[s] certain minimum contacts ... such that the maintenance of the suit does not offend traditional notions of justice and fair play.’ ” Motorola, Inc. v. PC-Tel, Inc., 58 F.Supp.2d 349, 352 (D.Del.1999) (quoting Milliken v. Meyer, 311 U.S. 457, 463, 61 S.Ct. 339, 85 L.Ed. 278 (1940)). In order to give non-resident defendants “fair warning” that a given activity subjects them to suit in the forum state, these “minimum contacts must be purposeful.” Id; See Burger King v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462, 472, 105 S.Ct. 2174, 85 L.Ed.2d 528 (1985). The defendant’s contacts with the forum must be of a kind that would cause the defendant to “reasonably foresee” that it might be “haled before a court” in the forum. Id.; World-Wide Volkswagen v. Woodson, 444 U.S. 286, 297, 100 S.Ct. 559, 62 L.Ed.2d 490 (1980).

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