Treehouse Avatar LLC v. Valve Corporation, C.A. No. 15-427 - SLR, March 22, 2016

Robinson,  J. Defendant’s motion to dismiss is denied; its motion to transfer to Washington is denied.

Plaintiff appears to be a nonpracticing entity incorporating in Delaware weeks before filing this lawsuit. The court footnotes that such entities hold constitutionally protected property rights. Plaintiff’s choice of Delaware is legitimate as claims may be said to arise there. The convenience factors do not weigh in favor of transfer because discovery is a local event and trial is a limited event. Delaware is a neutral forum and the motion to transfer is denied. Defendant also seeks to dismiss the complaints pursuant to section 101 for lack of patentability. Defendant is accused of infringing certain in-game shops which allow users to select virtual items to advance the play of the game. Applying the Alice analysis, the court finds that the claims are not limited to tallying, but overcome a problem specifically arising in the realm of computer networks. Furthermore, the claims are innovative provide sufficient specificity to overcome preemption concerns.