Patent Baristas: Federal Circuit Sets Out Personal Jurisdiction Standard:


In Breckenridge Pharmaceutical, Inc. v. Metabolite Laboratories, Inc., the Federal Circuit summarized the standard for personal jurisdiction in patent cases.

Metabolite holds patents for a method of controlling hyperhomocysteinemia, a condition involving elevated serum metabolite levels, which is an emerging risk factor for heart and vascular disease, and its principal business involves licensing its patents to pharmaceutical manufacturing companies. PamLab has an exclusive license of the Metabolite patents and manufactures and distributes a prescription-only vitamin product containing a specific formulation of B12, folic acid and B6 marketed as FOLTX. Breckenridge, a generic drug company headquartered in Florida, manufactures a similar product, marketed as “Folbee”, which it sells as a substitute for FOLTX.