E-Pass Technologies, Inc. v. Moses & Singer, LLP

Plaintiff E-Pass Technologies, Inc. (E-Pass), appeals from a judgment of dismissal following the sustaining of a demurrer in favor of defendants Moses & Singer, LLP, Stephen Weiss, Squire Sanders & Dempsey, LLP, and Mark Dosker. The trial court sustained the demurrer on the ground that E-Pass’s complaint for legal malpractice is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal courts because it raises a substantial issue of federal patent law. We disagree and therefore shall reverse the judgment.

Factual and Procedural Background

Since approximately February 2000, E-Pass has been the owner by assignment of United States Patent No. 5,276,311 entitled, “Method and Device for Simplifying the Use of a Plurality of Credit Cards, or the Like” (the ’311 patent). The ’311 patent “describes a method and device for storing information from various individual cards in a single electronic multi-function card.” Beginning in February 2000, E-Pass, represented by defendants in the present action, filed four actions in federal district courts alleging that certain manufacturers and users of personal digital assistant devices (PDA’s) had infringed upon its ’311 patent.

The Federal…