A Blog About Intellectual Property Litigation and the District of Delaware


Entries for tag: Jury Instructions

Judge Noreika Shares Her Own Preferences On The Form and Content of Jury Instructions

Nathan R. Hoeschen, Aug. 9, 2022
Jury Instructions

Gary Chan, Unsplash

Hot on the heels of yesterday's post about Chief Judge Connolly's preferred style of Jury instructions, Judge Noreika just issued an Oral Order outlining her own preferences for the format and content of final jury instructions.

The parties in Aqua Connect, Inc. et al v. TeamViewer US, LLC, C.A. No. 18-1572-MN submitted their proposed final jury instructions to the Court about 2 weeks ago, which included several disputes. Yesterday Judge Noreika issued the Oral Order below requiring them to resubmit the proposal with several modifications:

The Court has reviewed the proposed final jury instructions and finds that submission does not conform with the Courts practices. Moreover, it appears as though the parties have not made …
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Phased Trial Results in Verdict for Plaintiff on All Counts; Some Comments by Chief Judge Connolly on Phased Trials and Jury Instructions

Andrew E. Russell, Aug. 8, 2022
Jury Selection Jury Trials

Phases
Phases Mason Kimbarovsky, Unsplash

We've previously talked about how Chief Judge Connolly's new form orders split patent trials into phases, with willful infringement and damages tried only if there is a finding of infringement. We noted at the time that the new form order doesn't say in which phase invalidity goes—with infringement, or afterwards?

It looked like we got an answer late last month, when Chief Judge Connolly held a phased jury trial in Magnolia Medical Technologies, Inc. v. Kurin, Inc., C.A. No. 19-97-CFC-CJB (D. Del.). There, the Court split the trial into two phases, with infringement by itself and then invalidity and damages together.

In Magnolia, the jury found infringement, so …

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Judge Noreika Permits Recovery of Damages for Some Non-Infringing, Extraterritorial Uses

Andrew E. Russell, Aug. 30, 2021
Foreign Sales Damages

Globe
Gaël Gaborel, Unsplash

Judge Noreika today issued an an opinion regarding a damages jury instruction for an upcoming case. The case involves damages for products alleged to infringe a method claim, which are made or sold in the United States but used only abroad.

Judge Noreika noted that it was undisputed that the uses abroad cannot infringe:

It is well-established (and undisputed) that the manufacture, sale and offer to sell a method is not an act of infringement. . . . And it is also well-established (and undisputed) that patent law is territorial. . . . Thus, to infringe a method claim, the method must be performed in the United States. . . .
The issue here, however, is …
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Do You Need a COVID-19 Jury Instruction?

Jeff Castellano, June 15, 2021
Jury Trials COVID-19

As jury trials re-start in this District and elsewhere, litigants may wonder whether and how to help the jury understand the impact of the pandemic on the court and, more specifically, the proceedings they are about to witness. In at least one case in this District, competing jury instructions touching on those topics were proposed by the parties just prior to the start of a jury trial last month. In that case—In re Chanbond, LLC Patent Litigation, C.A. 15-842-RGA—the parties took slightly different approaches, although they seemed to agree that the jury should be instructed not to read anything into the precautionary measures taken by the Court and the parties. ...

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