A developer of online video games is trying to transfer a patent infringement suit from Delaware to its home state of Washington, setting up an early test of how the Delaware’s federal court will respond to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark TC Heartland decision.
On May 22, the high court clarified that defendants “reside” only in their state of incorporation under the patent venue statute. The ruling was widely understood to limit venue in patent cases, but it also left open an important question surrounding the statute’s critical second prong: What, exactly, is meant by a “regular and established place of business”?
