INTEL CORPORATION, a Delaware Corporation, v. BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SYSTEM, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON, and CAROLYN A. MARTIN, JOHN D. WILEY, DAVID WARD, MARVIN H. SOLOMON, DAVID M. KONSHAK, GURINDAR S. SOHI, SCOTT E. BREACH, ANDREAS I. MOSHOVOS and TERANI N. VIJAYKUMAR, individuals
08-cv-700-bbc
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN
April 27, 2009
BARBARA B. CRABB, District Judge
OPINION AND ORDER
In this civil action plaintiff Intel Corporation asserts 12 causes of action against different groups of defendants. All 12 causes of action stem from an alleged agreement between plaintiff and defendant University of Wisconsin-Madison in which plaintiff agreed to provide funding for research on the “Investigation of Multiscalar Paradigm” in exchange for free access to the results. Before the court is a motion to dismiss plaintiff‘s complaint
Plaintiff asserts several state causes of action and one federal cause of action. I conclude that plaintiff fails to state a claim under
Before addressing the merits of defendants’ motion, I note that defendants move to dismiss under
Generally, when a court decides a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), it can consider only the complaint in its analysis. Hill v. Trustees of Indiana University, 537 F.2d 248, 251 (7th Cir. 1976). However, “[d]ocuments that a defendant attaches to a motion to dismiss are considered part of the pleadings if they are referred to in the plaintiff‘s complaint and are central to [its] claim.” Venture Associate Corp. v. Zenith Data Systems Corp., 987 F.2d 429, 431 (7th Cir. 1993) (citations omitted). This exception to the general rule is meant to “prevent parties from surviving a motion to dismiss by artful pleading or by failing to attach relevant documents.” 188 LLC v. Trinity Industries, Inc., 300 F.3d 730, 735 (7th Cir. 2002).
In this case, I find it proper to consider as part of the pleadings (1) the research proposal defendant Sohi sent to plaintiff, referred to in paragraph 20 of plaintiff‘s complaint; (2) the December 8, 1994 letter from plaintiff to defendant Solomon agreeing to provide funds, referred to in paragraph 21 of plaintiff‘s complaint; (3) the November 14, 1995 letter from plaintiff to defendant Solomon agreeing to provide more funds, referred to in paragraph 26 of the complaint; and (4) defendant Sohi‘s June 17, 1996 invention disclosure form, as referred to in paragraph 34 of plaintiff‘s complaint. Dkts. ## 12-4 - 12-6, 12-8 - 12-10. All four of these documents are relevant to the alleged agreement between plaintiff and defendants and to defendants’ knowledge that plaintiff‘s funding helped in the research that produced the invention that plaintiff alleges it has the right to use. Documents of the alleged agreement between the parties are central to plaintiff‘s claim regarding the parties’ agreement. Accordingly, I will consider the four listed documents attached to defendant‘s motion to dismiss as part of the pleadings in ruling on defendants’ motion.
I draw the following facts from plaintiff‘s complaint and the four listed documents attached to defendants’ motion to dismiss.
ALLEGATIONS OF FACT
A. Parties
B. The 1994 Research Proposal
Industrial involvement is critical at this point; Intel would be the ideal industrial partner. . . . This research proposal would: (i) allow us to increase our research efforts in the investigation of the multiscalar architecture, (ii) allow us to obtain valuable industrial input in our design decisions, (iii) create an environment in which our technology could be transferred to Intel.
Dkt. #12-5 at 4. The proposal further listed some “deliverables,” that is, tangible evidence of the research that would be provided to plaintiff:
- Detailed results of our experiments and their analyses.
- Papers and technical reports describing aspects of the multiscalar architecture.
- A preliminary assessment of the enhancements required to the x86 ISA and/or binaries to use the multiscalar.
- Semi-annual (or more frequent if desired by Intel) progress reports detailing progress made towards attaining the above research goals.
C. Plaintiff‘s 1994 Funding
On December 8, 1994, plaintiff wrote to defendant Solomon, who was chair of UW Madison‘s Computer Sciences Department at the time, agreeing to provide the first year‘s funding. The letter stated in part:
Intel Corporation is pleased to grant $28,000 to the Department of Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin to support the research of Professor Gurindar Sohi in the area of “Investigation of the Multiscalar Paradigm.”
No restrictions per se are imposed on the grant except that it be used solely to support basic research in the technologies previously mentioned, and that Intel shall have unrestricted rights at no cost to the results of this research. . . . Will you please sign and return to me this letter indicating your acceptance of this basic research grant . . . .
When we receive this letter back, we will forward the funds to you.
Dkt. #12-8 at 2. (Emphasis in original.) On December 29, 1994, defendant Konshak signed the December 8 letter and returned it to plaintiff. Plaintiff then provided defendant UW Madison $28,000.
D. Plaintiff‘s 1995 Funding
Intel Corporation is pleased to grant $30,000 to the Department of Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin to support the research of Professor S. Gurindar Sohi [in] the area of “Investigation of the Multiscalar Paradigm.”
No restrictions per se are imposed on the grant except that it be used solely to support research in the technologies previously mentioned, and that Intel shall have unrestricted rights at no cost to the results of this research. . . . Will you please sign and return to me this letter indicating your acceptance . . . .
When we receive this letter back, we will forward the funds to you.
Dkt. #12-9 at 2. (Emphasis in original.) On December 18, 1995, defendant Konshak signed the November 14 letter and returned it to plaintiff. Plaintiff then provided defendant UW Madison $30,000.
E. The Invention of United States Patent No. 5,781,752
Defendants Breach, Moshovos and Vijaykumar were supervised by defendant Sohi in research related to the Multiscalar Paradigm. Those defendants benefited from the funds provided by plaintiff and knew or should have known that plaintiff was funding their research in part. The research of the Multiscalar Paradigm resulted in the creation of an invention that was ultimately claimed in United States Patent No. 5,781,752 (the ‘752 patent). The invention was conceived in October 1995 and reduced to practice between
Defendants Sohi, Breach, Moshovos and Vijaykumar assigned rights to the invention claimed in the ‘752 patent to the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which UW Madison has designated as its patent management organization. To properly assign the invention to WARF, Sohi, Breach, Moshovos and Vijaykumar had to sign a Memorandum Agreement and a UW Madison Invention Disclosure Report. The report requires that inventors identify any non-federal funds contributed to making the invention and any other relevant agreements. Cpt., dkt. #1, ¶33. The report states, “In submitting this form you are accepting the responsibility for the accuracy of the information supplied and for ensuring that all inventors will be provided with copies of this form.”
On June 17, 1996, defendant Sohi submitted an Invention Record and Report to WARF, listing plaintiff as one source of funding for the research leading to the invention. The invention is described as a dynamic approach to improve accuracy of data dependence speculation. On December 26, 1996, WARF filed a patent application claiming the invention reported by Sohi. On July 14, 1998, the ‘752 patent, which is titled “Table Based Data Speculation Circuit for Parallel Processing Computer,” was issued. The ‘752 patent lists defendants Sohi, Breach, Moshovos and Vijaykumar as inventors.
F. The ‘752 Patent Infringement Lawsuit and Plaintiff‘s Letter to UW Madison
OPINION
A. Plaintiff‘s Due Process Cause of Action
Under
The parties dispute whether plaintiff‘s Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment due process claim is merely a breach of contract claim that cannot be brought under
“The due process clauses in the fifth and fourteenth amendments do not protect property interests unconditionally.” Goros v. County of Cook, 489 F.3d 857, 859 (7th Cir. 2007). Although “[d]ue process usually means notice and an opportunity for a hearing,” id., plaintiff is not seeking a hearing. Plaintiff is seeking relief in the form of (1) damages; (2) a declaration that the contract provides plaintiff with rights to the results of the research, including rights to the invention claimed under the ‘752 patent; and (3) an injunction barring defendants from assisting in the ‘752 patent infringement suit against plaintiff. Cpt., dkt. #1, at 19. The requested declaration and injunction are essentially requests for specific performance of plaintiff‘s funds-for-research-results contract. Plaintiff‘s requested remedies are breach of contract remedies. In other words, like the plaintiffs in Goros, 489 F.3d at 860, plaintiff “do[esn‘t] want process; [it] want[s] money.” (Emphasis in original.)
The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has stated that “unless the plaintiff maintains that the state actor had to offer a hearing to resolve some contested issue of fact, the dispute belongs in state court under state law.” Id. Plaintiff‘s complaint in this case leaves no doubt that plaintiff is not seeking process. It raises issues about the meaning and effect of its funds-for-research-results contract. “[D]ue process clauses do not require hearings to resolve disputes about the meaning and effect of . . . contracts.” Id. I conclude, therefore, that plaintiff fails to state a procedural due process claim.
In addition to procedural due process, due process contains a substantive component. E.g., County of Sacramento v. Lewis, 523 U.S. 833 (1998). Although plaintiff has not made it entirely clear, it seems to be invoking substantive due process by alleging that defendants
Part of the difficulty in deciding whether plaintiff is attempting to state a substantive due process claim stems from the fact that “substantive due process is a difficult concept to pin down.” Tun v. Whitticker, 398 F.3d 899, 902 (7th Cir. 2005). Nonetheless, it is understood that substantive due process “is . . . derived from the many constitutional rules that protect personal liberty from unjustified intrusions,” National Paint & Coatings Association v. City of Chicago, 45 F.3d 1124, 1129 (7th Cir. 1995), and “is most often described as an abuse of government power which ‘shocks the conscience,‘” Tun, 398 F.3d at 902 (quoting Rochin v. California, 342 U.S. 165 (1952)). Because substantive due process is created out of a combination of constitutional rules and involves only the most shocking abuses, its scope includes only “a handful of fundamental rights.” Goros, 489 F.3d at 860 (citing Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702 (1997)); see also National Paint, 45 F.3d at 1129 (“Only laws that affect ‘fundamental rights’ come within the purview of the [substantive due process].“).
None of plaintiff‘s allegations support an inference that defendants deprived plaintiff of any fundamental right. Plaintiff alleges a breach of a commercial contract, which, even if willful, cannot be said to “shock the conscience.” If it could, any breach of contract case involving state actors could be heard in federal court regardless of diversity, nullifying “the terms of diversity jurisdiction.” Goros, 489 F.3d at 860. At any rate, plaintiff is a
Plaintiff makes one final argument that its due process claim should not be dismissed, contending that it must be permitted to bring its due process claim under
B. Supplemental Jurisdiction
Because plaintiff has failed to state a claim under
1. Diversity jurisdiction
A review of the allegations in plaintiff‘s complaint reveals that diversity jurisdiction does not exist. An initial jurisdictional deficiency is plaintiff‘s failure to allege the citizenship of defendants Ward, Konshak, Breach, Moshovos and Vijaykumar. Plaintiff alleges where each of those defendants reside “but residence and citizenship are not synonyms and it is the latter that matters for purposes of the diversity jurisdiction.” Meyerson v. Harrah‘s East Chicago Casino, 299 F.3d 616, 617 (7th Cir. 2002). Thus, plaintiff‘s complaint fails to show any basis for diversity jurisdiction.
Aside from plaintiff‘s failure to allege every defendant‘s citizenship, there is a deeper problem. Plaintiff has named as defendants Board of Regents and UW Madison. In relevant part,
Whether the state is a real party in interest in this case depends on whether
2. Jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1338
Plaintiff alleges that this court has subject matter jurisdiction over this lawsuit under
Because none of plaintiff‘s remaining causes of action fall under the court‘s original jurisdiction, it is within the court‘s discretion to decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over plaintiff‘s remaining causes of action.
C. Conclusion
Plaintiff has failed to state a claim under
ORDER
IT IS ORDERED that:
- The motion to dismiss, dkt. #9, filed by defendants Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, University of Wisconsin Madison, Carolyn A. Martin and Gurindar S. Sohi and joined, dkts. ##16 & 21, by defendants David Konshak, Scott E. Breach, David Ward, John D. Wiley, Marvin H. Solomon, Andreas I. Moshovos and Terani Vijaykumar is GRANTED;
- Plaintiff Intel Corporation‘s eleventh cause of action brought under
42 U.S.C. § 1983 for a violation of its due process rights as provided by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted; - The remainder of plaintiff‘s causes of action are DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE under
28 U.S.C. § 1367(c)(3) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction; - The clerk of court is directed to close this case.
Entered this 24th day of April, 2009.
BY THE COURT:
/s/
__________________________________
BARBARA B. CRABB
District Judge
