Fenwick litigation partner Darren Donnelly was quoted in a Law360 article about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear a case about where patent lawsuits can be filed. The case has widely been identified as one of the key cases to watch in 2017.
Law360 reported that the high court granted a petition from TC Heartland LLC, a liquid sweetener company that was sued for patent infringement in 2014 by Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC. TC Heartland appealed after its attempts to move the case to Indiana, where it is based, were denied.
A ruling for TC Heartland would keep most patent cases out of the popular Eastern District of Texas, one of the nation’s busiest patent courts. The District of Delaware, where many businesses are incorporated, would probably see a surge, Law360 noted.
“The legal issues are ones that are there to provide a vehicle, it seems, for the court to consider the policy issues,” Donnelly told Law360.
The full article is available through the Law360 website (subscription required).