Plaintiff's Choice Of Forum And Defendant's State Of Incorporation Not Dispositive In Venue Transfer Analysis

Judges: Rader, Dyk, O'Malley (per curiam)

[Appealed from D. Del., Judge Robinson]

In In re Link_A_Media Devices Corp., No. 11-M990 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 2, 2011), the Federal Circuit granted Link_A_Media Devices Corp.'s ("LAMD") petition for a writ of mandamus directing the United States District Court for the District of Delaware to vacate its order denying LAMD's motion to transfer venue, and to direct transfer to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Marvell International Ltd. ("Marvell") filed a patent infringement suit against LAMD in the District of Delaware. LAMD is incorporated under the laws of the state of Delaware, but maintains its principal place of business in the Northern District of California, where nearly all of its employees work. None of its employees work in Delaware. Marvell is a Bermuda-based holding company and has a related entity, which is headquartered in the Northern District of California and which employs the inventors of the patents-in-suit and presumably houses all of Marvell's documents relevant to the suit.

LAMD moved to transfer the case to the Northern District of California pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), which authorizes a district court of proper jurisdiction to nonetheless transfer a case "[f]or the convenience of the parties and witnesses, in the interest of justice." Slip op. at 2 (alteration in original). The District of Delaware denied LAMD's motion to transfer and LAMD filed a petition for a writ of mandamus.

Applying Third Circuit law, the Federal Circuit noted that the standard for granting a writ of mandamus "is an exacting one, requiring the petitioner to establish that the district court's decision amounted to a failure to meaningfully consider the merits of the transfer motion." Id. at 4. In finding this standard satisfied, the Court noted that the district court did not properly balance the private and public interest factors the Third Circuit considers in a § 1404 transfer analysis. Id. (citing Jumara v. State Farm Ins. Co., 55 F.3d 873, 879 (3d Cir. 1995)). Specifically, the Federal Circuit found that the district court "failed to balance those factors fairly and instead elevated two considerations to overriding importance." Id.

With respect to private interests, the Federal Circuit found that the district court erred by placing far too much weight on (1) Marvell's choice of forum and (2) LAMD's incorporation in Delaware. The Court acknowledged that the...