Federal Circuit IP
In re Amazon.com, Inc., No. 22-157 (Fed. Cir. (WDTx) Dec. 15, 2022) Hughes, Wallach, Stoll per curium
Summary: The Federal Circuit granted Amazon.com, Inc.’s petition, holding that the Western District of Texas abused its discretion by denying Amazon’s motion to sever and motion to transfer. Flygrip Inc. sued Amazon alleging infringement of device cases manufactured by PopSockets LLC and Otter Products LLC. The panel determined that the district court erred because (1) the addition of Coghlan Family Enterprises LLC (CFE), a small local business based in the Western District of Texas, after Amazon filed its motion to transfer to be “suspect,” (2) the claims against CFE were peripheral to the claims against Amazon, and (3) the transfer factors weigh heavily in favor of transferring to the District of Colorado, where PopSockets and Otter were headquartered and had filed a declaratory judgment of noninfringement.
Background: The Federal Circuit has continued issuing writs of mandamus ordering Judge Albright to transfer cases without connection to the district. Our client Amazon was sued by Flygrip in the Western District of Texas and assigned to Judge Albright. Amazon moved to transfer to the District of Colorado. FlyGrip then amended its complaint adding CFE, a small family business in the Western District of Texas as a defendant. Amazon further moved to sever the claims against CFE. The District Court denied Amazon’s motions. Amazon appealed.
Issues: (1) whether the case should be transferred and (2) whether the claims against CFE should be severed.
Opinion (per curium):
- The District Court clearly abused its discretion by denying Amazon’s motion to sever CFE
- Even if Flygrip’s actions had not amounted to venue manipulation, the claims against CFE were peripheral
- The District Court clearly abused its discretion by denying Amazon’s motion to transfer to Colorado
- District Court failed to consider the advantages of transferring to Colorado
- Sources of proof for the claims against Amazon are almost exclusively found in Colorado (Popsockets and Otter are both in Colorado)
- District Court failed to consider the advantages of transferring to Colorado
Opinion:
- The District Court abused its discretion by denying Amazon’s motion to sever
- The decision to add CFE after the motion to transfer suggests that it was intended to affect the transfer analysis
- Even if it had not amounted to venue manipulation, the sales were too low to be considered central claims
- The District Court abused its discretion by denying Amazon’s motion to transfer
- The sources