Five Work-at-Home Employees Do Not Create Regular and Established Place of Business for Venue

The court granted defendant's motion to dismiss plaintiff's patent infringement action for improper venue because defendant did not have a regular and established place of business in the forum based on its five work-at-home employees in the district. "While these employees' homes are certainly physical places in this District and are in some sense connected to Defendant's business, none of them are a place 'of the defendant.'. . . Defendant does not own or lease these five employees' homes or contribute to their rent or mortgage payments. Nor does it require them to reside at particular locations or even to reside in this District. Defendant also does not publicly advertise or list the employees' homes as a place where it conducts business. . . . Listing an employee's home address on a workers' compensation policy does not show 'possession or control' by the employer over the employee's home, nor does it hold out the employee's home to the public as the employer's place of business."

BillingNetwork Patent, Inc. v. Modernizing Medicine, Inc., 1-17-cv-05636 (ILND November 6, 2017, Order) (Castillo, USDJ)