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4 September 2017Patents

TomTom navigates patent infringement case to new venue

Dutch navigation technology company TomTom has successfully moved a case in which it was sued for patent infringement from Virginia to Massachusetts.

In July 2016, Smart Wearable Technologies sued TomTom for alleged infringement of US patent number 6,997,882, which relates to “subject monitoring device and method”.

The complaint (pdf), which was filed in the Charlottesville division of the US District Court for the Western District of Virginia, stated that TomTom had “committed such purposeful acts in the state of Virginia that it reasonably knew and/or expected that it could be hailed into a Virginia court as a future consequence of such activity”.

Smart Wearable Technologies alleged that the Spark Cardio + Music products created by TomTom had infringed its patent. The products store data obtained from a tracking device on fitness apps onto smartphones, tablets and laptops.

TomTom stated that venue was improper, “since it is not incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia and has no regular and established place of business in this district”.

Despite agreeing that the venue was improper, Smart Wearable Technologies claimed TomTom waived the defence of improper venue by not challenging venue sooner.

TomTom in turn said that before the US Supreme Court’s ruling in TC Heartland, “defence of improper venue was not available”, and asked for the case to be moved to the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

District Judge Glen Conrad agreed with TomTom, stating that TC Heartland had “significantly” changed the law of venue in actions for patent infringement.

“As a practical matter, the legal basis for TomTom’s motion was unavailable until the Supreme Court decided TC Heartland,” he said in the  decision, released on Friday, September 1.

He added: “TomTom therefore did not waive the venue challenge by failing to assert improper venue as an affirmative defence in its answer or as a basis for judgment on the pleadings.”

Smart Wearable Technologies has previously been forced to move jurisdictions in litigation concerning the same patent.

Last week, in a case with Fitbit, the case was moved from the same Virginia court to California, with the judge citing TC Heartland.

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