A Blog About Intellectual Property Litigation and the District of Delaware


Entries for tag: Jury Trials

Judge Williams Denies Plaintiff's Motion to Un-Bifurcate His Court's First Patent Jury Trial; Plaintiff Wins $42 Million and Willfulness Anyway

Andrew E. Russell, Feb. 1, 2023
Jury Trials Jury Verdict

Un-bifurcated (but probably not worth $42m)
Un-bifurcated (but probably not worth $42m) AI-Generated, displayed with permission

We wrote in December about how Judge Williams granted defendant's motion to bifurcate the jury trial in Board of Regents, the University of Texas System v. Boston Scientific Corp., C.A. No. 18-392-GBW (D. Del.).

That trial went forward starting last week, and the trial extended into this week. As we mentioned before, Judge Williams split the trial into two phases:

  1. Direct infringement and invalidity
  2. Willful infringement, damages, knowledge, and intent for induced infringement

Near the conclusion of Phase 1, plaintiff moved to "unbifurcat[e]" the trial. According to the transcript:

MR. SHORE [for plaintiff]: Your Honor, we would like for the Court to consider over the weekend, not …
View

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 …

View

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. ...

View

District of Delaware Formally Cancels All Non-Emergency Jury Trials Until April 5, 2021 Due to COVID-19

Andrew E. Russell, Feb. 5, 2021
Jury Trials Trial Calendar

COVID-19
COVID-19, CDC/Hannah A Bullock; Azaibi Tamin

Today the Court issued a standing order formally cancelling the remaining jury trials scheduled until April 5, 2021. As we noted in our last update, the District of Delaware had already canceled all jury trials through the end of February.

Today's order leaves open the possibility of a jury trial under some circumstances:

discretion . . . remains with each presiding judge to order a jury trial in the event of an emergency or other truly urgent situation . . . .

It's hard to envision, however, what circumstances might lead to an emergency jury trial.

Of course, as the order notes, all other proceedings, including bench trials, have been proceeding smoothly …

View

Update on Upcoming D. Del. Jury Trials

Andrew E. Russell, Jan. 10, 2021
Jury Trials Trial Calendar

Calendar
Adam Tinworth, Unsplash

It has been a while since we posted an update on upcoming jury trials in the District of Delaware.

The most recent news from the Court is that Chief Judge Stark still believes that jury trials are feasible, using the Court's enhanced jury trial procedures, and the Court intends to proceed with trials as they come up.

[UPDATE: If you arrived here via a Google search, make sure to check out our latest posts on this issue here.]

The next jury trial is set for January 25, and then there are multiple trials scheduled for mid- to late-February:

  • January 25, 2021: Judge Noreika has a jury trial scheduled in a breach of contract action, …
View

Chief Judge Stark Confirms $137m Damages Award on 65% Royalty Theory, But Reverses Jury Finding of Willfulness

Andrew E. Russell, Nov. 30, 2020
Damages Willfulness

Dollar Bills
Sharon McCutcheon, Unsplash

Chief Judge Stark today released his opinion on post-trial motions in Roch Diagnostics Co. v. Meso Scale Diagnostics, LLC, C.A. No. 17-189-LPS (D. Del.), following a jury trial last year that resulted in a $137m verdict and a finding of willfulness.

Damages Award on 65% Royalty Theory Confirmed

The Court denied a post-trial motion to undo the jury's damage finding, which equated to an approximately 65% royalty rate (or more, depending on the royalty base).

Interestingly, the jury awarded damages after a one-sided royalty rate presentation by Roche, the accused infringer. The Court had previously excluded the patentee's damages expert's opinion as to the royalty rate, because it used the wrong date …

View

District of Delaware Holds First Jury Trial Since Start of Pandemic

Andrew E. Russell, Nov. 15, 2020
Jury Trials COVID-19

Chairs
Billy, Unsplash

On Monday morning, Chief Judge Stark is scheduled to hold the second District of Delaware jury trial since all jury proceedings were put on hold for the pandemic. The case is USA v. Aaron Davis, C.A No. 19-101-LPS, a criminal fraud and money laundering action filed August 2019.

The Court issued an order Friday making clear that the jury trial will go forward as planned:

ORAL ORDER: IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the parties shall be present in Courtroom 6B at 9:00 AM on Monday, November 16, 2020. Ordered by Judge Leonard P. Stark on 11/13/2020. (etg) (Entered: 11/13/2020)

The Court has not yet posted public access information.

UPDATE 11-18-2020: This trial was continued shortly after …

View

Update on Upcoming D. Del. Trials

Andrew E. Russell, Oct. 25, 2020
Bench Trial Jury Trials

Calendar
Adam Tinworth, Unsplash

Here is a list of some of the upcoming jury/bench trials in the District of Delaware.

As you can see, aside from Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years', there is one jury trial per week starting 11/16 and continuing into next year.

  • November 3: Judge Noreika has a remote bench trial scheduled in W. R. Berkley Corporation v. Niemela, C.A. No. 17-32-MN (D. Del.), a non-compete case.
  • November 16: Chief Judge Stark has a criminal jury trial scheduled in U.S. v. Aaron Davis, C.A. No. 19-101-LPS (D. Del.), a fraud case. The Court issued an order last week finding that seven witnesses could testify remotely, and making some statements …
View

D. Del. Schedules November 30 Patent Jury Trial, Imposes Restrictions

Andrew E. Russell, Oct. 19, 2020
Scheduling Jury Trials

Chief Judge Stark on Friday scheduled the first post-COVID-19 patent jury trial that I've seen, in Guardant Health, Inc. v. Foundation Medicine, Inc., C.A. No. 17-1616-LPS-CJB, D.I. 487 (D. Del. Oct. 16, 2020). (The potential Judge Noreika trial I mentioned recently is not going forward).

The Court had offered the November 30 date late last month. The defendant objected to it due to a conflict. The defendant also argued that the jury pool will not be representative, lacking older jurors, and that holding a trial would go against CDC guidance.

The Court was not persuaded. It did, however, set the following restrictions:

  • No live witnesses: The Court accepted a proposal that since not all witnesses can …
View

Don't Get Your Hopes Up for a New District of Delaware Patent Jury Trial Date in 2020

Andrew E. Russell, Oct. 14, 2020
Scheduling Jury Trials

Unsurprisingly, in light of COVID-19, recent signs indicate that the Court is all booked up for this year, and probably for a large part of next year.

Here, for example, is a Judge Stark order from yesterday:

ORAL ORDER: Having discussed with the parties on repeated occasions whether and when to schedule this patent infringement case for a jury trial (see, e.g., D.I. 474, 549, 583, 590, 591, 593, 596, 605, 607, 608, 610-15) and having found (unfortunately) no date that is reasonable and available to all parties and to the Court, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that trial in this matter is CONTINUED to a DATE TO BE DETERMINED, most likely in 2021 (and certainly NOT in 2020). IT …
View
Older

Archive