KOSS Corporation v. Plantronics, Inc., et. al. DC

As the Western District of Texas remains atop the venue charts, an issue of ongoing interest for patent litigants has been how District Judge Alan D. Albright has handled motions to transfer. Most of this narrative has thus far focused on his restrictive approach to convenience transfers, a posture that may be shifting in response to a series of recent reversals by the Federal Circuit. However, less attention has been paid to his treatment of motions alleging improper venue, since—unlike former NPE hotspots like the Eastern District of Texas—many companies have active operations in West Texas, and may therefore “reside” in that venue as established under the Supreme Court’s 2017 TC Heartland decision. While such a venue challenge may not be an option for some defendants, recent orders by Judge Albright suggest that improper venue challenges may succeed in his court for companies with a sufficiently minimal presence there.

It looks like the infringement dispute between Koss Corporation and Apple will play out in the Western District of Texas, where Koss filed five infringement suits last July, one each against Apple, Bose, PEAG (d/b/a JLAB Audio), Plantronics (Polycom), and Skullcandy. Those defendants responded with motions seeking dismissal (or transfer) from West Texas, Apple and Bose also filing declaratory judgment actions elsewhere. Apple in particular asked District Judge Alan D. Albright to strike Koss’s complaint entirely, as impermissibly predicated on confidential information; in early April, Judge Albright denied that motion—and last week, the Northern District of California transferred Apple’s case against Koss to West Texas.