2 opinions in the patent, trademark, design patent, and trade dress categories. Rule 36 affirmances and non-IP dispositions excluded.
In Inari Agriculture, Inc. v. Corteva Agriscience LLC, an appeal from a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision in IPR2024-01014, the Federal Circuit dismissed the proceeding under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 42(b) based on the parties' agreement, with each side to bear its own costs.
Panel: Dyk, Mayer, Stark
The Federal Circuit granted Google's mandamus petition and ordered the Western District of Texas to transfer a patent infringement case brought by the University of Southern California to the Northern District of California. USC accused Google of infringing two patents through Google Earth, Maps, and Street View functionality, and the district court had denied Google's § 1404(a) transfer motion after finding only the willing witness factor slightly favored transfer while deeming all other factors neutral.
The court found the district court's neutral weighing of multiple factors patently erroneous, applying Fifth Circuit law that requires transfer when the movant shows the transferee venue is clearly more convenient. The court held that sources of proof should have favored transfer because the only specifically identified evidence—prior art software on a CD—was located in NDCA, and the district court erred by discounting physical location based on the software's portability; moreover, the court found internal inconsistency in treating sources of proof as neutral while acknowledging key technical witnesses were in or near NDCA. The opinion also faulted the neutral treatment of local interest, emphasizing that NDCA was where Google designed and developed the accused functionality and where the alleged willfulness events occurred, while WDTX's only connection was quality assurance testing unrelated to the accused features.