Supreme Court Limits Where Patent Infringement Lawsuits May Be Filed

In one of the most important recent decisions in patent law, TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, the Supreme Court this week upended more than 25 years of patent infringement litigation practice by significantly narrowing where U.S. patent infringement lawsuits can be filed against domestic corporations.

As a practical matter, this decision eliminates the ability of forum shopping plaintiffs to file lawsuits in patentee-friendly forums with which defendants have limited contacts.  This decision also represents another rebuke by the Supreme Court of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, whose decision the Supreme Court reversed, marking the fifth time that the Supreme Court has overruled the Federal Circuit during the past year.