Culligan Int’l Co. v. Water Sys. of Birmingham, Inc., No. 10 C 8199, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Apr. 27, 2011) (Bucklo, J.).
The Court granted defendants’ Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(2) motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction in this trademark dispute regarding plaintiff’s CULLIGAN marks. Defendants were Alabama entities without offices, employees or agents in Illinois. All of defendants’ business was conducted in Alabama. The parties’ agreement was negotiated and executed in Alabama, and there was no indication of a choice of law provision selecting Illinois law. The only connection to Illinois was that plaintiff did business in Illinois, and that was not sufficient to create jurisdiction over defendants.