WACO - Yesterday, a Texas federal judge signed an order transferring a patent infringement lawsuit against Redfin to California.
Smarter Agent filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Waco Division, accusing Redfin of infringing on several patents that cover “systems and methods generally related to location-aware search engines and related storage technology.”
According to the order, Smarter Agent alleges Redfin infringes on the asserted patents “by at least using the ‘Redfin Real Estate’ home search app or other similar home search apps” and “advertising, promoting, instructing, and facilitating the use of infringing devices and/or systems, such as a smartphone having the app installed thereon.”
Redfin is a Delaware corporation that has corporate headquarters in Seattle and app development headquarters in San Francisco.
According to the order, Redfin argued that the case could have been filed in the Northern District of California because Redfin has maintained a regular office and substantial presence in San Francisco since 2006, and the apps in question were created and developed in San Francisco.
Judge Alan Albright found that “venue would have been proper in the NDCA had Smarter Agent originally filed this case there.”
“The center of gravity in this case is the NDCA,” the order states. “Thus, Redfin has met its burden of showing that the NDCA is clearly more convenient than the WDTX.”
Case No. 6:21-cv-01172-ADA