KLARQUIST NEWS
Klarquist Wins Mandamus Order Transferring Client Amazon.com
Klarquist helped client Amazon.com win a mandamus order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit directing the district court to sever and transfer the case filed by Flygrip Inc. against Amazon.com from the Western District of Texas (Waco) to the District of Colorado.
Plaintiff Flygrip sued Amazon.com in Waco, alleging patent infringement based on sales of products manufactured by Colorado-based companies PopSockets and Otter Products, both of whom filed declaratory judgment actions against Flygrip in Colorado. Amazon.com moved to transfer the case against it to Colorado, where the two manufacturers are located and where their lawsuits were pending. In response, trying to prevent the transfer, Flygrip added a few Texas third parties who had sold some accused products on the Amazon.com website. The district court in Waco refused to sever these peripheral local sellers and, on that basis, denied the motion to transfer without weighing the transfer factors.
Amazon.com sought a mandamus order from the Federal Circuit, which granted the request on December 15, 2022. The Federal Circuit said that the district court in Waco “clearly abused its discretion” in refusing to sever because adding local defendants after Amazon.com sought transfer “amounted to venue manipulation.” After ordering severance, the Federal Circuit also found that the district court should have transferred the case against Amazon to Colorado because there were numerous witnesses and documents of the two manufacturers in Colorado, while there were no witnesses or documents in the Western District of Texas. Thus, the appeals court directed the district court to sever the claim against Amazon.com and transfer it to the District of Colorado.
The Federal Circuit order can be read here.
Klarquist attorneys J. Christopher Carraway and James E. Geringer represented Amazon.com in this case.