Patent Litigation Alert: District of Delaware Decision Addresses General Personal Jurisdiction in Post-Daimler Hatch-Waxman Cases

Summary: On January 14, 2015, in Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., Case No. 1:14-cv-00935, Chief Judge Leonard Stark of the District of Delaware issued a decision in favor of our client, Acorda Therapeutics, Inc., on the issue of personal jurisdiction in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Daimler AG v. Bauman. Judge Stark denied a motion by Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. to dismiss the patent infringement case, brought against it by Acorda under the Hatch-Waxman Act, on the grounds that it is neither at home nor subject to specific jurisdiction in Delaware because it is headquartered and incorporated in West Virginia and does not conduct business in Delaware. Addressing “an important question of first impression,” the court ruled that Mylan was subject to both general jurisdiction and specific jurisdiction in Delaware. As explained below, Judge Stark’s opinion may have a major impact on the availability of Delaware as a favored forum in Hatch-Waxman litigation and on the ability of branded pharmaceutical companies to sue multiple ANDA filers in a single forum.