PITTSBURGH - A federal judge in St. Paul, Minnesota, has sent a subpoena quash motion in a popular paint and home improvement supply company's patent lawsuit against a Pittsburgh-based competitor to a Pennsylvania court.
"Here, this court agrees with the parties that transfer of petitioner's motion to the Western District of Pennsylvania is the appropriate course of action," Minnesota U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Tony N. Leung said in his five-page order issued Aug. 20.
Leung granted the order in the patent dispute between Sherwin-Williams, based in Cleveland, and PPG Industries over beverage can interior spray coatings. The case currently is pending before the U.S. District Court for Pennsylvania's Western District.
PPG Industries had served subpoenas in early August on third parties Mueting, Raasch, & Gebhardt and Ann Mueting.
The case had originally been filed in Minnesota but later was transferred to the Pennsylvania federal court, where the case is assigned to United States District Judge Joy Flowers Conti.
Leung handed down his order following a joint motion for the quash request to be transferred to the Pennsylvania court for consideration as part of the ongoing litigation. Leung's order effectively ends his court's participation in the case.
In his order, Leung said Conti "has significantly more knowledge of the case than this court" and that she was "better positioned to make a just and speedy determination" of the motion to quash.
"Any ruling this Court made on the contested subpoenas could disrupt Chief Judge Conti's management of the underlying litigation," Leung continued in his order. "Given that the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provide a vehicle to transfer subpoena-related motions for these very reasons, this court will employ that option and transfer the motion to quash to the Western District of Pennsylvania."