A Blog About Intellectual Property Litigation and the District of Delaware


Entries for tag: Motion to Strike

"The Court cannot countenance a world where, for no good reason at all, parties simply wait until middle of expert discovery to disclose new theories."

Andrew E. Russell, Oct. 10, 2023
Motion to Strike Pennypack

"Why were we late? Aliens! No wait—bigfoot. I don't know." Albert Antony, Unsplash

We've talked about how, when deciding whether a late disclosure should result in waiver, the Court applies the Third Circuits rather forgiving Pennypack factors.

We've also discussed how you really ought to have a reason for a late disclosure.

On Friday, we saw another example of that in Natera, Inc. v. CareDX, C.A. No. 20-038, D.I. 392 (D. Del. Oct. 6, 2023). Magistrate Judge Burke rejected the idea that a party can just not bother to provide an explanation for its late disclosure:

ORAL ORDER: The Court, having reviewed Plaintiff's motion to strike certain [expert] opinions . . . hereby GRANTS the remaining …
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Don't Waive Your Daubert Motion by Waiting Until the Motion In Limine Stage

Andrew E. Russell, Jan. 30, 2023
FRCP 702 Motion to Strike

Stealth Bomber
Matt Artz, Unsplash

We've talked before about MILs that are really stealth summary judgment motions, but now let's talk about MILs that are stealth Daubert motions and stealth motions to strike!

On Friday, Judge Burke denied a motion in limine to preclude the testimony, holding that it was really a Daubert motion, and the party had waived it by failing to present it by the deadline for Daubert motions:

ORAL ORDER: The Court . . . hereby DENIES [Defendants' Motion in Limine No. 1] for the following reasons: (1) [T]he Scheduling Order in this case provided that "[n]o Daubert motions or motions to strike expert testimony shall be filed unless discussed with the [C]ourt at [the status conference …
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Disagreement With the Substance of Infringement Contentions Does Not Mean Those Contentions Are Inadequte—And Can't Be the Basis to Withhold Discovery

Andrew E. Russell, Oct. 31, 2022
Motion to Strike MTC

"I'm a motion to strike, not a stealth motion for summary judgment" Braydon Anderson, Unsplash

One of the more common District of Delaware questions you get as local counsel is "can we move to strike opposing counsel's (infringement or invalidity) contentions?"

That may seem like a simple question, but the answer depends many things, like: What is wrong with those contentions? How were our contentions in comparison? Which judge is this in front of? How long ago did they serve them? (And, sometimes, things like: Why are you asking this now, when we are two weeks from trial?)

Challenging contention disclosures can be tough even if you have what seem like fairly good arguments. The Court is generally not …

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Magistrate Judges in Vacant Judgeship Cases Cannot Resolve Motions to Strike

Andrew E. Russell, June 1, 2022
Motion to Strike Discovery

Magnifying Glass
Agence Olloweb, Unsplash

Since the Court's announcement of the current vacant judgeship program, there have been some lingering questions about what a magistrate judge in a vacant judgeship case can and cannot decide.

We got some insight on that question yesterday in Huber Engineered Woods LLC v. Louisiana-Pacific Corporation, C.A. No. 19-342-VAC-SRF (D. Del.). The referral order in that case is typical of VAC cases—it says that the magistrate judge can resolve only a limited scope of disputes:

this case is referred to Magistrate Judge Sherry R. Fallon solely for the following purposes: (1) to adjudicate discovery (including fact and expert discovery) and protective order disputes; (2) to issue or modify a scheduling order; (3) to …
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Special Master Williams, Nominated to Replace Judge Stark, Strikes Late Infringement Contentions

Andrew E. Russell, May 25, 2022
DOE Motion to Strike

Special Master Williams quoted Judge Andrews' recent holding that a new <a href='#' class='abbreviation' data-bs-toggle='tooltip' data-placement='top' title='Doctrine of Equivalents'>DOE</a> argument
Special Master Williams quoted Judge Andrews' recent holding that a new DOE argument "creates a new balgame." Caitlin Conner, Unsplash

Yesterday, Special Master Gregory B. Williams, who has been nominated to replace Judge Stark, issued an order granting a motion to strike late Doctrine of Equivalents contentions.

In TQ Delta, LLC v. Comcast Cable Communications LLC, C.A. No. 15-611-RGA, D.I. 455 (D. Del. May 24, 2022), plaintiff served a new DOE theory over two months after final contentions were due, after it found—following non-infringement contentions received from the defendants—that its original DOE theory would fail.

Special Master Williams rejected …

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What Does It Take for "Unclean Hands" and "Prosecution Laches" Affirmative Defenses to Actually Survive a Motion to Strike?

Andrew E. Russell, March 14, 2022
Motion to Strike Affirmative Defenses

These hands actually look pretty clean.
These hands actually look pretty clean. Nathan Dumlao, Unsplash

Defendants in patent cases often seem to throw in somewhat obscure affirmative defenses with little or no factual support. "Unclean hands" is a classic example. Defendants will sometimes seem to include defenses like unclean hands and prosecution latches with no real factual support (and, I suspect, not always the best grasp on what those defenses really mean).

Judge Stark issued an opinion today on a motion to strike "unclean hands" and "prosecution laches" defenses offers an example of what happens when a defendant actually does adequately support these defenses.

First, the standard: to succeed on a motion to strike affirmative defenses, the insufficiency must be "clearly apparent":

"[P]ursuant to Rule …
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Court Strikes Answer, Orders Default for Unrepresented Corporate Defendant

Andrew E. Russell, Jan. 31, 2022
Motion to Strike Answer

Pixelated Game Over screen on an oversized PAC-MAN arcade machine
Sigmund, Unsplash

Generally, corporations have to be represented to appear in Federal Court, or they are at risk of default. This is something that comes up surprisingly often, including when corporate defendants try to file their own filings without an attorney (by mailing them to the clerks' office), or when counsel for a corporate defendant seeks to withdraw mid-case.

Judge Fallon issued an opinion today showing the consequences of a corporation failing to retain counsel. Plaintiff brought suit and, requested entry of default after a corporate defendant failed to answer. That corporate defendant then filed an "answer"—which, based on the docket, was not an answer at all, in that it did not respond to plaintiff's claims. Plaintiff then moved …

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Pennypack Strikes Back: The Return of Curative Discovery

David M. Fry, Aug. 23, 2021
Motion to Strike Pennypack

Cave
Cade Roberts, Unsplash

Over the past year, we've noticed that the D. Del. judges have shown an increasing willingness to exclude late-disclosed evidence and theories. Until recently, motions to strike were difficult to win under the Third Circuit's Pennypack standard. If the prejudice caused by the late disclosure could be cured, it was almost impossible to get anything excluded.

Today, harkening back to an earlier time, Judge Andrews denied cross-motions to strike allegedly late-disclosed theories from the parties' opening expert reports. Although he found that the defendant's motion presented a close call on late disclosure, he concluded that "[e]ven if these infringement theories were untimely, I find, under the Pennypack factors, that their exclusion is not warranted."

At …

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Another Late Expert Opinion Bites the Dust

David M. Fry, March 31, 2021
Motion to Strike Pennypack

We keep writing about how hard it is to win a motion to strike in D. Del., which is generally true. That said, it's still possible to get late-disclosed theories and evidence excluded, especially when there's no good explanation for the delay.

Yesterday afternoon, one plaintiff learned that lesson the hard way. As often happens, the plaintiff argued that the defendant's expert raised new opinions on motivation-to-combine in his reply report.

But instead of moving to strike (or seeking leave to submit a sur-rebuttal report, or dealing with the issue during expert depositions...), the plaintiff simply waited until summary judgment briefing. There, it submitted a rebuttal declaration from its own expert in support of its answering brief on invalidity. …

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Judge Burke Chides Parties for Time-Wasting Motion to Strike

David M. Fry, March 17, 2021
Motion to Strike Pennypack

We've written several posts about the Pennypack factors and how hard it can be to win a motion to strike in D. Del. The upshot is that it's often better to simply reach agreement on a curative remedy rather than spend time on full-blown motion practice.

Case in point: on Monday, Judge Burke denied a motion to strike a two-page supplemental expert declaration on a patentability issue. Applying the Pennypack factors, he concluded

that having to respond to the supplemental declaration (which, after all, relates to one discrete issue, and is only two pages long) would occasion some great prejudice to Defendants. The issue can be resolved by permitting Defendants to file a supplemental sur-rebuttal expert report on …
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