A majority opinion from a federal appeals court devotes quite a bit of real estate to pushing back against a dissenting judge’s critiques in a ruling over a digital nomad’s standing in a trademark dispute with Impossible Foods Inc.
In a ruling Tuesday, the majority of a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that a fitness brand called Impossible X is subject to specific personal jurisdiction in California in a declaratory judgment action from Impossible Foods, reversing a trial court order dismissing the case. Impossible X owner Joel Runyon is a self-described digital nomad who says he handles business for the brand “remotely from wherever I happen[] to be,” but set up a de facto headquarters in San Diego from 2014 to 2016.
