News & Events

Palo Alto Litigation Partner Buzz Frahn, and Litigation Associates Matt Telford, Kimberly Ingram, and Jenny Palmer filed an amicus curiae brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on December 21, representing 34 law professors as amici curiae in a case concerning the proper bounds of personal jurisdiction in patent declaratory judgment suits. The case concerns whether personal jurisdiction exists in a declaratory judgment suit in California against a patent holder that purposefully targeted the forum state by sending demand letters into the state and engaging in in-person meetings in the state with the specific purpose of licensing the patents-in-suit. Amici argue that it does, and advocate more broadly that the Federal Circuit reconsider its restrictive personal jurisdiction precedent in patent declaratory judgment suits. The case is Altera Corporation and Xilinx, Inc. v. Pabst Licensing GMBH & Co. KG, Nos. 2015-1914, 2015-1919 (Fed. Cir. 2015).