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Entries for search: Stark

Judge Fallon: The Court Is Split on IPR Estoppel

Andrew E. Russell, Feb. 9, 2023
IPR Estoppel Split

Split Cup
Tania Melnyczuk, Unsplash

Judge Fallon issued an order yesterday recognizing the split in the district court on how the judges handle IPR estoppel—specifically the question of whether IPR estoppel may apply to prior art products that are cumulative of patents or publications that could have been raised in the IPR:

ORAL ORDER . . . IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff's motion to strike Defendant's amended invalidity contentions based on IPR estoppel is DENIED without prejudice. The parties dispute whether IPR estoppel should apply to Defendant's invalidity theories based on prior art systems, products, and/or knowledge. Under 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(2), Defendant is barred from asserting an invalidity defense based on "any ground that [Defendant] raised or reasonably could …
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Two Thirds of Latest Round of Cases Consent to Magistrate Judge Jurisdiction Rather Than Getting an Unknown Visiting Judge

Andrew E. Russell, Nov. 14, 2022
Visiting Judges Congestion

"If we don't consent, which visiting judge do you think we'll get?" Hush Naidoo Jade Photography, Unsplash

We've talked before about Chief Judge Connolly's orders that allow parties to choose to either consent to a specific magistrate judge or to have the case assigned to a visiting judge.

Last month, the Court issued those orders in six patent cases. All of the orders followed the same pattern as last time, giving the choice between a specific magistrate judge or an unknown visiting judge:

ORAL ORDER: It is HEREBY ORDERED that on or before November 1, 2022, the parties shall either (1) submit to the Clerk of Court an executed Form AO 85 Notice, Consent, and Reference of a Civil Action to a Magistrate Judge, indicating their consent to have a United States Magistrate Judge conduct all proceedings in this case including trial, the entry of final judgment, and post-trial proceedings; or (2) file a joint letter indicating that all the parties do not consent to a referral of this action to a Magistrate Judge. The letter should not indicate which party or parties did not consent. If all the parties consent, the case will be referred to Magistrate Judge Burke. Because of the Court's caseload, if the parties do not consent, the Court intends to assign the case to a visiting judge from another district. Ordered by Judge Colm F. Connolly on 10/18/2022.

These orders started last year, before Judge Stark's departure for the Federal Circuit. It makes sense that the Court is sticking with ...

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Staying And Moving On

Nathan R. Hoeschen, Sept. 15, 2022
Stay Pending IPR

Deal with it kitty, you're going to be famous
Deal with it kitty, you're going to be famous Go to Bogdan Farca's profile Bogdan Farca, Unsplash

Reader, I feel like we know each other, so I'm going to level with you. We are going to write a post about absolutely everything Judge Williams does for the next month or so.

New standing order? POST.

First trial? POST.

Pets a cute cat? 2 POSTS.

If you stop clicking? We'll just start juicing the headlines (Judge Williams DESTROYS cat!). This is the world we all live in now.

On a totally unrelated note, Judge Williams issued an opinion today continuing the trend of longer and longer IPR stays. The parties in Personal Genomics Taiwan, Inc. v. Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc., No. 19-1810-GBW-MPT, had initially stipulated to a stay pending an IPR. That stay expired in February when the case was still assigned to Judge Stark. Two weeks later the defendant moved to stay pending appeal of the IPR (which had been only partially successful). Briefing closed right around the time the case was transferred ...

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Court Denies Request for In-Person Deposition, Citing COVID-19 Pandemic

Andrew E. Russell, Aug. 12, 2022
Depositions COVID-19

The view as you take off on the redeye after a one-hour deposition of a non-critical witness
The view as you take off on the redeye after a one-hour deposition of a non-critical witness Saman Tsang, Unsplash

At this point, the vast majority of the impact of COVID-19 on the District of Delaware seems to have passed. The Court has entered Phase 4, full return to normal operations. It's becoming uncommon, at this point, to see counsel or Court personnel wearing masks at the courthouse.

The COVID-19 pandemic was obviously a horrible tragedy, but one positive response to it has been the widespread adoption of remote depositions, which are far (far!) more efficient for certain circumstances. If you've ever flown cross-country for a deposition, then boarded the red-eye back immediately after the deposition, you may agree.

But sometimes the other side won't agree to a remote deposition. That's why I found this order from Judge Stark (who it seems is still working hard in Delaware) to be interesting:

ORAL ORDER: Having reviewed the parties' letters regarding a discovery dispute (see D.I. 543, 544), IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiffs' request that MSN and Sandoz be required to produce Dr. Reus for an in-person deposition is DENIED. Virtual depositions have been permitted for fact discovery in this case due to the ongoing global health crisis. (See, e.g., D.I. 34 at 13-14) Defendants represent that their expert is at some greater-than-average risk of adverse health consequences were he to contract Covid and Plaintiffs fail to identify any meaningful prejudice that would ...
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Can Defendants Move to Stay Vacant Judgship Cases After All?

Andrew E. Russell, Aug. 5, 2022
Congestion Vacant Judgeship

Defendants lining up to file their motions to stay
Defendants lining up to file their motions to stay Rob Curran, Unsplash

When the Court instituted its vacant judgeship procedures following Judge Stark's elevation to the Federal Circuit, the implementing order included procedures to keep cases moving if the parties do not consent to a magistrate judge to hear the case.

For example, the order directs parties to hold a Rule 26(f) conference within seven days of notifying the Court that the parties would not consent to a magistrate judge:

The parties shall cooperate in good faith to move the case forward. To that end, within seven days of filing the notice that the parties would not consent to a Magistrate Judge, the parties shall hold a Rule 26(f) …
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Judge Noreika Chooses a Side on IPR Estoppel: No Estoppel of Prior Art Products

Andrew E. Russell, July 12, 2022
IPR Estoppel Estoppel

Split
Bannon Morrissy, Unsplash

IPR estoppel can be kind of terrifying as an accused infringer in a patent action. The statute says that an accused infringer may not assert invalidity on a ground that it could have raised in the IPR; but you can't raise product prior art, so product prior art should be safe, right?

Nope. Courts have sometimes held that product prior art may still be estopped, if there is patent or written prior art that is sufficiently similar. See, e.g., Wasica Fin. GmbH v. Schrader Int’l, 432 F. Supp. 3d 448, 453 (D. Del. 2020) (holding defendant estopped from asserting product art where “all the relevant features” of the art were in a printed publication that could have been raised in an IPR).

As Judge Stark notes in Wasica, courts have gone both ways on this, with some estopping arguments based on product art where similar written or patent art could have been raised in an IPR, and others permitting those arguments.

On Friday, Judge Noreika chose a side in this split: no estoppel for prior art products ...

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The Emergency Option

Nathan R. Hoeschen, June 9, 2022
Vacant Judgship

jason-leung-N2JUQtT5i40-unsplash.jpg
Jason Leung, Unsplash

So your case has been assigned to the VAC docket.

It's Okay

It happens fairly often in this grey world we all live in following Judge Stark's departure. Per the standing order creating the vacant judgeship, you can consent to a magistrate judge, in which case things should proceed more or less as they would under one of our Article III judges.

What's that? You're one of the surprising number of cases where the parties cannot agree on magistrate consent?

You Walk A Particularly Dark Road

Per that same standing order, you a will be assigned a visiting judge. Unfortunately, that assignment can occur any time before trial, and a cursory review of cases …

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Magistrate Consent Numbers (Pithy Title Unavailable)

Nathan R. Hoeschen, May 8, 2022
Magistrate Judges

Take your pick
Aditya Chinchure, Unsplash

As we've mentioned a time or three in the last few months, in the wake of Judge Stark's confirmation to the Federal Circuit, parties in his former cases were given the option to either consent to a magistrate judge of their choosing or await assignment to a sitting Article III judge - most likely a helpful visitor from another district.

On this slow news day, I thought it might be helpful to look back at the results of this novel procedure over the past few months and see how many litigants have chosen to consent, and to whom. I for one was a bit surprised at the results, to wit:

  • Not consenting: 48
  • Consenting: 12

Our resident math majors will note that exactly 20% (my personal guess was closer to 50%) of cases consented to having one of our magistrate judges conduct all proceedings. Interestingly, in every case the parties chose to select their magistrate, rather than allowing the Court to choose resuling in the following distribution:

  • Judge Burke - 7
  • Judge Hall - 3
  • Judge Thynge - 2

These numbers are quite preliminary as the majority of the VAC cases have yet to make their decision on a magistrate, but it will be interesting to see how these numbers change and what effect, if any, it will have on case management in the district.

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Successful Motion for Reconsideration Lops About Seven Months' Time Off of Fee Award

Andrew E. Russell, April 28, 2022
LR 7.1.5 Reargument

Money
Pepi Stojanovski, Unsplash

As we've recognized before, motions for reconsideration can be tough.

First, the deadline to move for reargument or reconsideration is fairly easy to miss. It's just 14 days after the order or opinion, and there are no CMECF reminders to flag it for counsel.

Second, the standard for reconsideration is fairly narrow. As we've discussed, you can't rehash arguments you already made—but you also can't make new arguments you could have raised earlier.

What does that leave? New arguments that you couldn't have raised earlier. And those typically result from something unanticipated in the Court's ruling or order.

This week we had a good example of a worthwhile motion for reconsideration. In …

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Here Is the New Nominee for the District of Delaware: Gregory B. Williams

Emily S. DiBenedetto, April 18, 2022
Congestion Vacant Judgship

Into Focus

Change is afoot in the District of Delaware! Last week, President Biden nominated Gregory B. Williams, a partner in Fox Rothschild LLP’s Wilmington office, to fill Judge Stark’s vacancy in the District of Delaware. (See Judge Stark’s confirmation history here.)

About the Nominee

The White House provided a helpful and succinct summary of Mr. Williams' qualifications: “Gregory B. Williams is a partner in the Wilmington, DE office of Fox Rothschild LLP. He joined the firm in 1995 as an associate and was elevated to partner in 2003. He has served as special master in complex civil cases for the District of Delaware since 2020. From 1986 to 1992, Mr. Williams served in the U.S. Army Reserve. He received his …

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