Amazon Units Lose Bid to Shift Texas Patent Case to California

Two Amazon.com Inc. subsidiaries must face patent-infringement allegations related to Echo and Ring devices in Waco, Texas, after a federal judge refused to transfer the case to Northern California, based in part on his rejection of their argument that “remote” workers don’t count the same as other employees.

Judge Alan Albright, who presides in Waco over one of the country’s busiest patent courts, denied the venue change from the US District Court for the Western District of Texas in a docket note on Nov. 6, and his redacted 22-page explanation was posted Thursday.

The judge said his decision leaned heavily ...