The removal
VEX Robotics, Inc. v. Robotics Education and Competition Foundation, Inc., No. 3:26-cv-03117-S (N.D. Tex., Dallas Division), arrived by notice of removal filed September 14, 2026, ECF No. 1 (13 pages). RECF removed under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1441, 1446, and 1454 from the 354th Judicial District Court of Hunt County, Texas, where VEX sued in April 2026 over about $10.3 million in allegedly unpaid invoices and later added contract, fraud, fiduciary duty, state trademark, and other claims. The docket shows the case is before Judge Karen Gren Scholer.
The copyright dispute RECF describes
RECF says the parties agreed to a temporary injunction in May 2026 that bars RECF from using VEX competition materials but allows independently developed manuals. It says that on August 14, 2026, VEX filed a countermotion asking the state court to stop RECF from using its new Tier Takeover and Pinnacle game manuals, on the ground that they "substantially imitate" the manuals for VEX's Level Up and Override games, including scoring systems, match mechanics, and tournament structures.
What RECF argues about jurisdiction
RECF argues that a claim seeking to bar use of written works for copying protectable expression arises under the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 101 et seq., that deciding it requires applying 17 U.S.C. § 102(b) to separate expression from rules and methods, that federal jurisdiction is exclusive under 28 U.S.C. § 1338(a), and that the countermotion was the first paper that made the case removable.
Remand briefing
VEX filed an expedited motion to remand on September 17, 2026. The court set expedited briefing on September 21, 2026; RECF filed its opposition on October 1, 2026, and VEX filed its reply on October 5, 2026. No ruling on the motion appears on the docket through October 30, 2026.