In Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. CheckPoint Software Technologies Ltd., Civ. No. 10-1067-LPS (D. Del. Jun. 22, 2011), Judge Stark denied the defendants’ motion to transfer venue to the Northern District of California.
The defendants—all of whom had accused products sold in Delaware—requested transfer under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a). Id. at 3. After noting that either venue would have been appropriate for the action, Judge Stark applied the Third Circuit’s Jumara factors and determined that transfer was, as usual, inappropriate. See id. at 4 (noting that “[u]nless the defendant ‘is truly regional in character[,]’ . . . transfer is almost always inappropriate”).
The Jumara factors (as set forth in Jumara v. State Farm Insurance Company, 55 F.3d 873, 883 (3d Cir. 1995)) provided an 11-factor framework of both private and public interest factors, each with different weights, that Judge Stark used in reaching his decision. Because the Jumara factors, on balance, weighed against transfer, Judge Stark exercised the Court’s discretion and declined to disturb the plaintiff’s choice of forum. Intellectual Ventures at 23.
In a footnote, Judge Stark recognized that the Federal Circuit has recently issued several opinions finding an abuse of discretion in similar district court denials of motions to transfer venue. Id. at 23 n.7. But those cases arose under Fifth Circuit law, which differs from the Third Circuit’s Jumara analysis in significant ways. Therefore, “these cases . . . do not affect the foregoing analysis.” Id.
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