Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

It depends upon the issues raised. Many royalty disputes are in actuality just simple state-law contract matters. Just because the contract is based upon an agreement to pay royalties, and the right to demand royalties in turn arises out of a Federal copyright, trademark or patent law, is insufficient to raise a Federal question and place the matter in the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal court system. If however the validity of a patent (for example) will be the crux of the royalty dispute, the matter belongs under Federal jurisdiction.