The rule is well-established that “parties who choose to litigate actively on the merits thereby surrender any jurisdictional objections.” PaineWebber Inc. v. Chase Manhattan Private Bank (Switzerland), 260 F.3d 453, 459 (5th Cir. 2001) (citing General Contracting & Trading Co., LLC v. Interpole, Inc., 940 F.2d 20 (1st Cir. 1991)).
The due process analysis focuses on the number and nature of a defendant’s contacts with the forum to determine if the defendant has sufficient “minimum contacts” such “that the maintenance of the suit does not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.” Int’l Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 326 (1945).
“At a minimum, Rule 9(b) requires allegations of the particulars of time, place, and contents of the false representations, as well as the identity of the person making the misrepresentation and what he obtained thereby.” Benchmark Elecs., Inc. v. J.M.
Only if the first step is satisfied may a court move on to the second, “whether the baseless lawsuit conceals ‘an attempt to interfere directly with the business relationships of a competitor’ through the ‘use [of] the governmental process—as opposed to the outcome of that process—as an anticompetitive weapon.’” Id. (quoting Noerr, 365 U.S. at 144); City of Columbia v. Omni Outdoor Advertising, Inc., 499 U.S. 365, 380 (1991).
With respect to Teso’s Lanham Act, false marking, tortious interference, and business disparagement claims, the Court finds that Teso has met the minimum pleading standards to survive 12(b)(6).