米国 フォーラム・ショッピング１ アップデート

（情報追加：09/2/25）
U.S. Supreme Court Won't Review 'Rocket Docket' Ruling
下記案件に関し最高裁はpetition for certiorari in In re Volkswagenを棄却しました。
-------------08/10/15-------------
テキサス東部連邦地裁において、フォルクスワーゲン社が被告として訴えられていた製造物責任訴訟に関し、5th Circuitの大法廷はフォルクスワーゲン社の請願を認め、管轄裁判所を移すようテキサス東部連邦地裁判事John Wardに指示しました。（Opinion） 詳しい解説は（Patent Prospector）
The overarching question before the en banc Court is whether a writ of mandamus should issue directing the transfer of this case from the Marshall Division of the Eastern District of Texas—which has no connection to the parties, the witnesses, or the facts of this case—to the Dallas Division of the Northern District of Texas—which has extensive connections to the parties, the witnesses, and the facts of this case. We grant the petition and direct the district court to transfer this case to the Dallas Division.

これまでテキサス東部連邦地裁は特許訴訟を米国で提起するさいのForum Shopping候補として最有力でしたがこの指令により、今後は他の地裁へ訴訟地を移すことが可能になると思われます。

5th Circuit Ruling Shoots Down IP Rocket Docket
（from Law.com October 14, 2008 Zusha Elinson）

以下は記事からの抜粋です

The majority wrote that "the district court clearly abused its discretion and reached a patently erroneous result," when it denied Volkswagen's efforts to have the case moved. The car company argued that the proper venue should be the district where the crash took place.

"I do think that people filing in the Eastern District will have to think twice if there's no connection," said Edward Reines, a patent litigator with Weil, Gotshal & Manges in Redwood Shores, Calif. "And I think there will be a lot more successful transfer motions."

The Eastern District of Texas last year got more patent cases than any other, and one reason plaintiffs like it is because if they file a case there, it probably will remain there. Judge Ward is often credited with making the Eastern District a so-called rocket docket.

Analyzing 17 years of rulings on contested transfer motions in patent cases, research firm Legal Metric found that the Eastern District of Texas granted only 33.1 percent of those requests, the second-lowest rate in the nation, next to the District of Minnesota.