News & Events

 Litigation Partner Buzz Frahn was quoted in a Law360 article, “Fed. Cir. Says Xilinx Noninfringement Suit Wrongly Nixed.” The article discusses the reversal of a California federal court decision which dismissed Xilinx Inc.’s suit seeking declaratory judgment that it does not infringe two Papst Licensing GmbH and Co.’s memory test patents, on the grounds that the court lacked jurisdiction. Though the California court believed the Germany-based nonpracticing entity Papst was not at home in California and the company did not have sufficient contacts with the state to give the court jurisdiction, the appeals court decided it was reasonable jurisdiction as Papst had sent licensing demand letters to California based Xilinx and the Papst company executives had visited the California headquarters to discuss the patent licensing, thus establishing minimum contacts with the state. The court also noted that in the past, Xilinx has filed several infringement suits in California. Buzz, who filed an amicus brief in the case on behalf of law professors supporting Xilinx, noted that the ruling makes clear that courts can consider other factors when determining proper jurisdiction, such as where the company has filed suit before, and commented that “NPEs are going to have to be more careful with their contacts now because they could give rise to jurisdiction in their target’s home forum.”

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