Google won an order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit directing transfer of the University of Southern California’s patent suit from Texas to Northern California, where Google developed the accused functionality.
USC filed its complaint in the Western District of Texas on Oct. 27, 2025. It accused Google Earth, Google Maps and Google Street View of infringing two patents covering systems that place two-dimensional images over three-dimensional models. Google asked to move the case under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), which allows a federal court to transfer a case when another district better serves convenience and the interests of justice.
The Federal Circuit applied Fifth Circuit law to review the venue decision. The district court had found that the willing-witness factor slightly favored transfer, while the other factors were neutral, but denied Google’s motion.
The appeals court said seven potential nonparty witnesses were within the Northern District of California’s subpoena reach, compared with five within the Western District of Texas. It said the transfer was warranted even without changing the district court’s neutral assessment of the compulsory-process factor. The court separately found that sources of proof and local interest favored Northern California.
USC had pointed to Google’s presence in Texas and quality-assurance testing there. The Federal Circuit said the testing had no connection to the accused functionality, though it gave the Western District of Texas some local interest. That interest, the court said, was not comparable to Northern California’s, where Google designed, developed and implemented the features at issue.
In its nonprecedential Oct. 6 order in In re Google LLC, the Federal Circuit vacated the denial and directed the Texas court to grant the transfer motion. The per curiam panel described the district court’s decision not to transfer as “a clear abuse of discretion.”
