Delaware Patent Litigation Report : Delaware Intellectual Property Lawyer & Attorney : Morris James Law Firm : Delaware Patent Litigation Report

Plaintiff alleges trademark infringement, unfair competition under the Lanham Act and common law infringement.  Defendants moved for dismissal based on lack of personal jurisdiction and improper venue or in the alternative for a transfer to the District of Arizona.  The Court denies the motion to dismiss but grants defendants’ request to transfer for the following reasons.  Both plaintiff and defendants are in the business of manufacturing and selling skin care products.  Plaintiff is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in South Carolina.  Defendants are both Arizona limited liability companies which maintain their principal place of business in Arizona.  Defendants have no offices, bank accounts or property in Delaware.  All of their officers and employees reside in Arizona and none has ever traveled to Delaware to conduct business for defendants.  However, plaintiff argues that defendants have “geographically indiscriminate” internet marketing efforts and have been selling the product line in Delaware for the past five years.  The court finds such contacts to be sufficient to establish jurisdiction under Delaware’s long-arm statute and to meet the minimum contacts.  As for transfer, the Court finds that defendants have overcome the strong presumption against transferring the action.  The Court finds persuasive that none of defendants’ nine employees are in Delaware and the absence of these officers and/or employees would be incredibly damaging to its business.  By contrast plaintiffs are principally located in South Carolina.  Having already chosen a foreign forum, the additional inconvenience of going from South Carolina to Arizona, instead of to Delaware, would be minimal.

A copy of the full opinion is available here.