Sales to Sixteen Illinois Dentists Creates Jurisdiction
Dental Arts Lab. V. Studio 360, The Dental Lab, LLC, No. 10 CV 4535, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Nov. 23, 2010) (Dow, J.).
Judge Dow denied defendant's Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b) motion to dismiss this Lanham Act dispute regarding plaintiff's 360 Dental Laboratories mark. Defendant was a Nevada entity which had sold product to sixteen Illinois dentists, making up 1.2% of defendant's gross revenue, and maintained a website that used the mark and offered defendant's products for sale. Plaintiff only argued that the Court had specific, not general jurisdiction. While defendant's contacts were minimal - sixteen customers and 1.2% of revenues - they involved the alleged tortious acts at issue. The sales, therefore, were sufficient minimum contacts to create specific jurisdiction. Although the Illinois sales were allegedly de minimus, each sale was allegedly a tortious act and the Court could have had jurisdiction based upon even one of the sales. Because defendant's venue arguments mirrored its jurisdiction arguments, venue was also proper.
