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Brief of Amici Curiae 56 Professors of Law and Economics in Support of Petition of Writ of Certiorari
Faculty Scholarship
  • John R. Allison
  • Margo Bagley
  • James Bessen
  • Jeremy Bock
  • Daniel H. Brean
  • Michael A. Carrier
  • Michael W. Carroll
  • Bernard Chao
  • Tun-Jen Chiang
  • Colleen V. Chien
  • Andrew Chin
  • Robert Cook-Deegan,, MD
  • Rochelle Dreyfuss
  • Dr. Dieter Ernst
  • Samuel F. Ernst
  • Robin C. Feldman
  • Lee Fleming
  • Brian Frye
  • William Gallagher
  • Shubha Ghosh
  • Eric Goldman
  • Bronwyn H. Hall
  • Yaniv Heled
  • Christian Helmers
  • Joachim Henkel
  • Susan Helper
  • Tim Holbrook
  • Herbert Hovenkamp
  • William Hubbard
  • Dr. Xavier Jaravel
  • Dennis S. Karjala
  • Peter Lee
  • Mark A. Lemley
  • David K. Levine
  • David S. Levine
  • Doug Lichtman
  • Yvette Joy Liebesman
  • Orly Lobel
  • Brian Love
  • Phil Malone
  • Michael J. Meurer
  • Dr. Shawn Miller
  • Matthew Mitchell
  • Susan Barbieri Montgomery
  • Sean Pager
  • Arti K. Rai, Duke Law School
  • Jacob H. Rooksby
  • Jorge R. Roig
  • Matthew Sag
  • Pamela Samuelson
  • Ana Santos Rutschman
  • Lea Bishop Shaver
  • Toshiko Takenaka
  • John L. Turner
  • Jennifer Urban
  • Eric von Hippel
Document Type
Brief
Publication Date
2016
Abstract

28 U.S.C. § 1400(b) provides that a defendant in a patent case may be sued where the defendant is incorporated or has a regular and established place of business and has infringed the patent. This Court made clear in Fourco Glass Co. v. Transmirra Prods. Corp., 353 U.S. 222, 223 (1957), that those were the only permissible venues for a patent case. But the Federal Circuit has rejected Fourco and the plain meaning of § 1400(b), instead permitting a patent plaintiff to file suit against a defendant anywhere there is personal jurisdiction over that defendant. The result has been rampant forum shopping, particularly by patent trolls. 44% of 2015 patent lawsuits were filed in a single district: the Eastern District of Texas, a forum with plaintiff-friendly rules and practices, and where few of the defendants are incorporated or have established places of business. And an estimated 86% of 2015 patent cases were filed somewhere other than the jurisdictions specified in the statute. Colleen V. Chien & Michael Risch, Recalibrating Patent Venue, Santa Clara Univ. Legal Studies Research Paper No. 10-1 (Sept. 1, 2016), Table 3. This Court should grant certiorari to review the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b) because the Federal Circuit’s dubious interpretation of the statute plays an outsized and detrimental role, both legally and economically, in the patent system.

Citation Information
Brief of Amici Curiae 56 Professors of Law and Economics in Support of Petition of Writ of Certiorari, TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Brands Group LLC, No. 16341, (U.S. Oct. 17, 2016)