""Given Google here identified a significant number of potential witnesses residing in the transferee forum, the case for transfer is even stronger than it was in TikTok." - Federal Circuit Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a pair of orders dismissing petitions for mandamus relief filed by patent owner VirtaMove seeking vacatur of transfer orders issued by the Western District of Texas. Applying "common sense," the Federal Circuit rejected VirtaMove's attempts to use the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit's 100-mile rule for assessing venue transfer in such a way that would prevent a significant number of witnesses from participating in trial proceedings close to home."
"Noting that Judge Gilliland cited no Federal Circuit decisions and did not appear to apply venue considerations from the Federal Circuit, Judge Counts held that: "This Court cannot step into the mind of another judge. And it is aware of no technology that would facilitate such a mind meld. Instead, this Court must review what is on the page... [N]o standard known to this Court allows objections to prompt such reading of tea leaves.""
The Federal Circuit dismissed petitions for mandamus filed by VirtaMove seeking vacatur of venue transfer orders from the Western District of Texas. The court applied a common-sense approach and refused to permit the Fifth Circuit's 100-mile rule to be used to preclude transfer where a significant number of witnesses reside in the transferee forum. In May, Judges David Counts and Alan Albright granted motions by Google and Amazon to transfer cases to the Northern District of California based on Magistrate Judge Derek Gilliland's recommendations. VirtaMove contended the district court misapplied the 100-mile rule because potential witnesses in the eastern United States and eastern Canada are geographically closer to Western Texas than to Northern California, citing the Fifth Circuit's In re TikTok decision.
Read at IPWatchdog.com | Patents & Intellectual Property Law
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