Federal - Corporate Residence Under Patent Law

TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Groups Brands LLC, No. 16-341 (5/22/2017). The US Supreme Court ruled that a patent infringement suit against a corporation, where venue is based on the corporation’s residence, must be brought in the state of incorporation.  The Court noted that the patent venue statute had not been amended in the 50 years since the Court first held that a corporation resides in its state of incorporation and rejected the holding of lower courts that an amendment to the general federal venue statute, which provides that a corporation resides in any state that can assert personal jurisdiction over it, applied to patent litigation.