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Brief Of Amici Curiae - 56 Professors Of Law And Economics In Support Of Petition For Writ Of Certiorari In Tc Heartland Llc V. Kraft Foods Group Brands Llc, No. 16-341, Colleen V. Chien, Mark Lemley, Brian Love, Arti K. Rai

Historical and Topical Legal Documents

28 U.S.C. § 1400(b) provides that a defendant in a patent case may be sued where the defendant is incorporated or has a regular and established place of business and has infringed the patent. This Court made clear in Fourco Glass Co. v. Transmirra Prods. Corp., 353 U.S. 222, 223 (1957), that those were the only permissible venues for a patent case. But the Federal Circuit has rejected Fourco and the plain meaning of § 1400(b), instead permitting a patent plaintiff to file suit against a defendant anywhere there is personal jurisdiction over that defendant. The result has been rampant …