Eastern District of Virginia Rules AWS Datacenter Does Not Establish Venue for Audible
On March 3, 2025, Judge Roderick C. Young of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia dismissed patent infringement claims against Audible, Inc. for improper venue in Audiopod IP, LLC v. Amazon.com, Inc. et al., No. 3:24-cv-00406. The court held that Audible's use of an Amazon Web Services (AWS) datacenter in Virginia did not establish a "regular and established place of business" under 28 U.S.C. ' 1400(b), as the datacenter's activities were unrelated to Audible's core business. This ruling should benefit companies relying on cloud infrastructure by restricting where they can be sued for patent infringement.
Case Background
Audiopod IP, LLC sued Amazon.com, Inc., Amazon.com LLC, Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), and Audible, Inc. on May 30, 2024, alleging infringement of five patents related to streaming media technology. The defendants moved to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) for patent ineligibility and Rule 12(b)(3) for improper venue against Audible. The cases were later consolidated.
Venue Dispute
Under 28 U.S.C. ' 1400(b), patent infringement suits may be brought where (1) the defendant "resides" (its state of incorporation) or (2) where it "has committed acts of infringement and has a regular and established place of business." Audible, a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Newark, New Jersey, resides only in Delaware per TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Grp. Brands LLC, 581 U.S. 258 (2017). While defendants conceded...
