For our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, November 27, 2017, we will discuss the following cases:

In re Micron Technology, Inc., (CAFC November 15, 2017) (available here). Micron was sued for patent infringement and filed a motion to transfer for improper venue. The district court denied the motion, Micron petitioned for a writ of mandamus. The CAFC granted the petition, vacating the lower court’s decision. The CAFC decided, “[w]e conclude that TC Heartland changed the controlling law in the relevant sense: at the time of the initial motion to dismiss, before the Court decided TC Heartland, the venue defense now raised by Micron (and others) based on TC Heartland’s interpretation of the venue statute was not “available,” thus making the waiver rule of Rule 12(g)(2) and (h)(1)(A) inapplicable.”

Yelp, Inc. v. Superior Court of Orange County., (Cal. App. November 13, 2017) (available here). In a related case, an accountant sued a client when she posted allegedly defamatory remarks on the website Yelp. During discovery, the accountant requested documents pertaining to the identity of the poster on Yelp. Yelp refused to produce the documents, citing the first amendment rights of its reviewer. The trial court found Yelp lacked standing to assert those first amendment rights, but the California Court of Appeals disagreed.

All are invited to join us on November 27, 2017, at noon in our Westlake Village office. This activity is approved for 1 hour of MCLE credit. If you will be joining us, please RSVP to Elisha Manzur by 9 am Monday morning.