SAN FRANCISCO — A patent proxy war between Apple and Google should be fought in the Valley rather than the plaintiff-friendly Eastern District of Texas, a federal judge here has ruled.
In a 28-page order issued late Thursday, U.S. District Chief Judge Claudia Wilken rejected a motion by Rockstar Consortium, a patent holding company owned in part by Apple, to transfer patent litigation filed by Google in the Bay Area to Texas. The Eastern District is home to other litigation between the players. Venue is a hot-button issue in patent litigation, and Wilken remarked that both sides were forum shopping. But she found that Rockstar’s ties to the Bay Area tipped the scales toward the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. She sided with Google and its lawyers at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, writing that Rockstar’s majority owner, Cupertino-based Apple Inc., appeared to be steering the litigation.
