Adventus Ams. Inc. v. Innovative Envtl. Techs., Inc., No. 06 CV 3267, 2007 WL 704938 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 5, 2007) (Manning).

Judge Manning dismissed one plaintiff for lack of standing and transferred the case to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  Plaintiff EnviroMetal Technologies ("EnviroMetal") had an exclusive license to the patent-in-suit from the University of Waterloo in Canada.  The Court held that EnviroMetal’s license was sufficiently exclusive to create standing because, among other things, it expressly gave the right to make use or sell and EnviroMetal had exclusive sublicensing rights.  Plaintiff Adventus Americas ("Adventus"), however, was a non-exclusive sublicensee of EnviroMetal and the Court held it had no standing.  Defendant also argued that the Court lacked personal jurisdiction, but the Court held that defendant’s sales contacts with Illinois were sufficient to create personal jurisdiction.

Having decided the standing and jurisdictional issues, the Court transferred the case to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  Although EnviroMetal had chosen Illinois as a form, that choice was given little weight because of Illinois’s relatively weak connection to the facts of the case.  And the Court held that the convenience of the parties was best served by transfer because EnviroMetal had to travel regardless of which district the case was in, but defendant’s employees would not have to travel if the case were transferred.  Additionally, the case would likely be resolved more quickly in Pennsylvania — the median time to trial in the N.D. Ill. is 26.4 months, compared to 18.0 in the E.D. Pa.