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With TC Heartland a year ago, the Supreme Court curtailed the definition of “residence” such that corporate defendants in patent cases reside only in their state of incorporation. For Multi-District States, BigCommerce Limits “Residence” to a Single Judicial District Parting with recent rulings from the Eastern District of Texas, the Federal Circuit on May 15 concluded that a corporate defendant “resides” only in a single judicial district in its state of incorporation: either the district in which its principal place of business is located or, failing that, the district in which its registered office is located.
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Taking a cue from TC Heartland, the Federal Circuit drilled down on what it means to “reside” in a state for patent venue purposes, specifically when a defendant is incorporated in a state having multiple judicial districts. Supreme Court’s ruling in TC Heartland in May 2017, followed by the Federal Circuit’s In re Cray decision later that year, and underscored by two more recent circuit court cases, the trend toward narrowing the available fora for patent plaintiffs continued this week with the Federal Circuit’s precedential opinion in In re BigCommerce. § 1400(b) - has undergone a near-complete overhaul by appellate courts in just the past 12 months. Despite going undisturbed for nearly 30 years, the patent venue statute - 28 U.S.C.