North Am. Philips Corp. v. American Vending Sales, Inc.

North Am. Philips Corp. v. American Vending Sales, Inc.

Opinion

 [***1203]   [*1577]  CLEVENGER, Circuit Judge.

North American Philips Corporation and Lockheed Sanders, Inc., appeal the December 13, 1993, final judgment of the United States District Court of the Northern District of Illinois dismissing their complaint against The Leland Corporation and Tradewest Inc. pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2) for want of jurisdiction. North Am. Philips Corp. v. American Vending Sales Inc., 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16216, 29 U.S.P.Q.2D (BNA) 1817 (N.D. Ill. 1993) (Memorandum Opinion and Order). We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

This case involves the alleged infringement of a patent in the arcade video game art. North American Philips and Lockheed filed a complaint on June 1, 1993 against [**2]  Leland, Tradewest and eleven other defendants. On September 1, 1993, Leland and Tradewest moved to dismiss on venue and personal jurisdiction grounds. ¹ They attached affidavits of the presidents of their respective corporations, Messrs. Rowe and Cook. Though admitting they had made sales "of products shipped to customers in  [***1204]  Illinois," they characterized these sales in conclusory terms as "modest" and "negligible."

After allowing plaintiffs limited discovery on the jurisdictional question, the district court issued its ruling based on the following jurisdictional facts: Leland is incorporated in California and has its principal place of business in that state; Tradewest is incorporated in [**3]  Texas and has its principal place of business in that state. Neither has an office, P.O. box, agents, employees, assets, or property in Illinois. Between 1987 and 1989, these two defendant manufacturers entered into contracts to sell video games with two distributors based in Illinois. Leland and Tradewest then had ongoing business relationships with their Illinois customers, including visits to Illinois by officers of Leland  [*1578]  and Tradewest to promote sales of their products to those customers. Leland and Tradewest also participated in trade shows in Illinois to promote sales of their products. All the goods destined for Illinois were delivered "free on board" (f.o.b.) ² in Texas and California. Since 1991, Leland has had no contacts with Illinois.

 [**4]  The district court noted that the in personam jurisdictional reach of a federal district court in a patent case is coextensive with the in personam jurisdictional reach of the courts of the state in which the district court sits and thus turned to Illinois law. It then analyzed the facts under several jurisdictional heads, common law and statutory law. Since plaintiffs concede that the defendants lack the sort of substantial and continuing contacts that amount to physical presence in the forum and thus give rise to a general jurisdiction under common law principles, we discuss only the court's ruling that it lacked specific jurisdiction under the Illinois long-arm statute.

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