Unicolors, Inc. v. Shewin Flagship Shops, No. 24 C 2987, (N.D. Ill. Oct. 24, 2024) (Gottschall, J.).
Judge Gottschall, in this Schedule A case, held that the Court lacked personal over defendant Shewin, a Chinese entity allegedly doing business on Amazon. The Court held that the Seventh Circuit requires more than proof of Shewin’s use of an interactive website to create personal jurisdiction. The website must be used to conduct business with Illinois consumers. The Court noted that almost all Seventh Circuit cases finding personal jurisdiction had in common proof of a purchase by an Illinois consumer and a product shipped to Illinois. This case was unique amongst Schedule A cases in that there was no evidence of a test sale to Shewin. Having held that the Court lacked jurisdiction, the Court could not grant plaintiff Unicolors even limited jurisdictional discovery. The Court also dissolved its preliminary injunction in light of the standing decision.
Finally, the Court denied Shewin standing to move to quash a third party subpoena. Shewin claimed that a response to the subpoena could put Shewin’s trade secrets at risk. That could confer Shewin a third party right to challenge the subpoena. But Shewin’s conclusory trade secret allegations were insufficient to create standing to challenge the subpoena. Furthermore, Shewin’s more specific allegations made in reply were waived because they were not made in Shewin’s opening papers.