A Board Certified Patent Attorney

Archive for the ‘Patent Personal Jurisdiction’ Category

Patent Holder Subject to Personal Jurisdiction in Florida

In Breckenridge Pharmaceutical, Inc. v. Metabolite Laboratories, Inc. et al. (Fed. Cir. 2006), the Federal Circuit held that a patent owner’s dealings with a Florida licensee was sufficient to give the court jurisdiction over the patent owner.   Beckenridge filed suit against Metabolite and PamLab in the United Stated District Court for the Southern District of Florida for a declaratory judgment of non-infringement of the patent and alleging state law claims of tortious interference with contract and unfair competition.   The Federal Circuit held that Florida’s long-arm statute authorized personal jurisdiction over Metabolite and that such jurisdiction would comport with due process:   In sum, our case law has held as follows: where a defendant has sent cease and desist letters into a forum state t