Koratron Company, Inc., a Corporation v. Deering Milliken, Inc., a Corporation

Pursuant to leave granted by this court ( 28 U.S.C. § 1292 (b)), appellant Deering Milliken, Inc. (“Milliken”), appeals from an interlocutory order of the District Court for the Northern District of California denying Milliken’s motions to dismiss, to transfer, or to stay the action filed against it by Koratron Company, Inc. (“Koratron”).

Milliken contends that venue was improperly laid because the gravamen of Koratron’s action is patent infringement for which an action may be brought only “in the judicial district where the defendant resides, or where the defendant has committed acts of infringement and has a regular and established place of business” 28 U.S.C. § 1400 (b)) and that the Northern District of California, in which the suit was brought, is not such a district. Koratron replies that its suit is not one for patent infringement, or even an action arising under the patent laws; rather, it is an action founded on a common law tort, and federal jurisdiction rests solely upon diversity of citizenship. Alternatively, Koratron argues that even if the suit is for patent infringement, the record supports the laying of venue in the Northern District of California.

Koratron…