Re: Exclusive jurisdiction -- remand or dismiss?

> A complaint filed in state court claims copyright and trademark
> infringement, as well as trade secret misappropriation. Obviously, you
can
> remove the case to federal court. Can you alternatively just move to
> dismiss the trademark and copyright claims for lack of subject matter
> jurisdiction? Is the federal court's jurisdiction exclusive as to both
> trademark and copyright infringement? I realize that the trademark
> infringement claim might be pled as an unfair business practice under
> state law, but assuming that it is only pled as a violation of the Lanham
> Act does it have to be dismissed?

I used to handle grievances for writers in the National Writers Union. Our members were occasionally able to sue for what amounted to infringement damages in small claims courts by suing for breach of contract rather than infringement. When they were successful, it was because their publishing contracts had specific language forbidding the publisher from posting the work online or otherwise republishing or reselling it. Lacking such language, the courts always dismissed on the grounds that they lacked jurisdiction over copyright issues.

• Mike Bradley www.techpubs.com