A Blog About Intellectual Property Litigation and the District of Delaware


Entries for tag: Trial Calendar

February Jury Trial Update

Emily DiBenedetto, Jan. 26, 2022
Congestion COVID-19

Masks
Isaac Quesada, Unsplash

February Jury Trials

After completing all planned December jury trials uninterrupted by COVID-19, the January docket became lighter after the Court continued several trial dates to later this year due to COVID-19 concerns. One of these continued trials, a patent case, was rescheduled to February; the Court also has three other jury trials on the calendar for next month.

In December, the Court reauthorized the use of video and telephone conferencing pursuant to the CARES Act. Relatedly, Governor Carney reinstituted a mask mandate, requiring individuals in Delaware to wear masks while in public spaces, with select exceptions.

Review of December Jury Trials

In our November update, we identified five upcoming December jury trials. Three proceeded as …

View

The Trials of the Pandemic

Nathan R. Hoeschen, Dec. 30, 2021
Trial Calendar

End of 2018
Andreas Dress, Unsplash

As we all get ready to drown another pestilential year in champagne and stuffed mushrooms, I thought it might be interesting to look back on how trials have progressed in the district this year as compared to 2020. Without further ado, I present to you the patent trial figures (as near as I can count them being already several mushrooms deep) for 2020 and 2021:

2020 - 8 Bench Trials + 5 Jury Trials = 13 Total Trials

2021 - 10 Bench Trials + 8 Jury Trials = 18 Total Trials

So there you have it folks, things are looking up (at least for patent lawyers who miss their trials), and the many steps the district has taken appear to have paid off.

Happy New Year, dear reader, I raise my next mushroom to your good health and successful trials.

View

To Plan A Trial

Nathan R. Hoeschen, Nov. 4, 2021
Trial Calendar Trial Scheduling

It's no secret that Delaware, like essentially everywhere else, has a huge number of trials scheduled for the coming months with many of our judges double and triple-booked with trials. As the pandemic backlog finally begins to clear, I thought it might be interesting to see if this congestion was having any effect on when trials were being scheduled for new cases., compared to our historical average. To that end, below is the current average time from scheduling order to trial for each of our Article 3 judges based on their 5 most recent schedules:

  • ANDREWS - 23.8 Months
  • CONNOLLY - 24.1 Months
  • NOREIKA - 25.3 Months
  • STARK - 24.2 Months

I was a bit surprised that these figures were …

View

November Jury Trials

Emily DiBenedetto, Oct. 22, 2021
COVID-19 Trial Calendar

This year's November begins on a Monday.
Theodorus van Hoytema

Remaining October Jury Trials

  • 10/25/2021: Boston Scientific Corp. v. Nevro Corp., C.A. 18-644-CFC-CJB (D. Del.): This patent jury trial is calendared to start on October 25 before Judge Connolly.
  • 10/25/2021: CareDx, Inc. v. Natera, Inc., C.A. 19-662-CFC-CJB (D. Del.): The parties in this trademark case will begin jury trial before Judge Connolly on October 25.

Upcoming November Jury Trials

One patent case has a long-standing trial date that appears intact, but another patent case appears close to settling.

  • 11/01/2021: Novel Drug solutions, LLC v. Harrow Health, Inc., C.A. 18-539-MN (D. Del.): Defendant proposed rescheduling the pretrial conference for an earlier date, to which the Plaintiff agreed (D.I. 368), but Judge Noreika declined the rescheduling. D.I. 369. This contract case is set to proceed for five days on November 1.
  • 11/01/2021: Shure Incorporated v. Clearone, Inc., C.A. 19-1343-RGA-CJB (D. Del.): Judge Andrews has resolved multiple merits issues (D.I. 571; D.I. 619; D.I. 621) after adopting the Magistrate Judge’s recommendations to deny most of the parties' dispositive motions. The case still appears on track to proceed to trial. ...
View

October Update on Upcoming D. Del. Jury Trials

Emily DiBenedetto, Oct. 11, 2021
COVID-19 Trial Calendar

Upcoming October Jury Trials

Of the six jury trials planned for October, four remain on the schedule as of now, including one patent and one trademark action. One patent jury trial was postponed for a second time this month due to the COVID-19 travel ban.

  • 10/12/2021: USA v. Crocker, C.A. 17-10-LPS (D. Del.): This criminal case was originally scheduled for a jury trial before Judge Stark on October 5, but was postponed at the last minute, likely due to a change in counsel. The trial is now set for October 12.
  • 10/18/2021: Parkell v. Frederick, C.A. 15-718-SB (D. Del.): The parties in this prisoner civil rights case agreed to jury trial before …
View

August Update on Upcoming D. Del. Jury Trials

Emily DiBenedetto, Aug. 12, 2021
COVID-19 Trial Calendar

Autumn trials are adding up
Kelly Sikkema, Unsplash

The District of Delaware has many more jury trials scheduled in the next two months than it has in recent months, and several of the upcoming trials were originally postponed for COVID-19 reasons. The September calendar looks particularly busy at the moment, but several case dockets indicate steps toward resolving before trial, suggesting that several of these trials may not be on the calendar much longer.

Remaining August Jury Trials

District of Delaware continues to permit multiple simultaneous jury trials, as evidenced by the three trials to begin on the same day this month:

  • 8/16/2021: McClanahan v. Priority 1 Air Rescue Operations Arizona, LP., et al., C.A. 18-1237-CFC-SRF (D. Del.): …
View

Judge Andrews: "Simply Needing More Time Is Not Good Cause" to Push Trial

David M. Fry, July 23, 2021
Scheduling Trial Calendar

As jury trials in Delaware continue to get back on track, the judges' trial calendars are jam packed for 2021 and 2022. What does this mean if you have an upcoming trial date and need to move it?

In some cases, you might be out of luck. Yesterday, Judge Andrews denied an unopposed motion to extend a case schedule that would have pushed trial from June 2022 to September 2022. The purpose for the request was to provide additional time to complete fact discovery.

In an oral order, Judge Andrews rejected the request outright:

The Parties say they need more time, but simply needing more time is not good cause. The Court's schedule is already completely full …
View

Chief Judge Stark Delivers Update on D. Del., Passes Chief Judgship to Judge Connolly

Andrew E. Russell, June 29, 2021
FBA Court Announcement

Annual Report 2021
District of Delaware

The Delaware FBA held its annual meeting virtually today. It included really wonderful speeches by the judges, passing along the Chief Judge gavel in both the district court and the bankruptcy court.

The FBA also did a great job presenting the event via Zoom (did anyone else clap while sitting alone in their offices, or was it just me?!).

I won’t try to summarize everything that was said, consistent with our ongoing attempts—and failures—to keep our posts short. But here are some quick highlights that may be particularly relevant to IP/DE readers:

  • Chief Judge Stark passed the gavel of Chief Judge to Judge Connolly, who will be new Chief Judge following the end of Judge Stark’s term …
View

Judge Bibas Stays Patent Action Less Than One Month From Trial, Pending Decision on Daubert & SJ Motions

Andrew E. Russell, June 18, 2021
Sua Sponte Trial Calendar

Hit the brakes!
Hit the brakes! Arthur Poulin, Unsplash

For the first time, Judge Stephanos Bibas of the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has taken at least two patent cases by designation in the District of Delaware this year (along with a number of non-patent cases):

  • TexasLDPC Inc. v. Broadcom Inc., C.A. No. 18-1966-SB (D. Del.)
  • Boston Scientific Corporation et al v. Micro-Tech Endoscopy USA Inc., C.A. No. 18-1869-SB (D. Del.)

We mentioned Boston Scientific earlier this week; it was set to go to a jury trial July 12, 2021.

On Wednesday Judge Bibas entered the following order on the docket, staying the case one day before the pretrial conference:

ORAL ORDER, The pretrial …
View

June Update on Upcoming D. Del. Jury Trials

Andrew E. Russell, June 14, 2021
COVID-19 Trial Calendar

Why go to the beach when you can have a Delaware jury trial instead!
Why go to the beach when you can have a Delaware jury trial instead! Elizeu Dias, Unsplash

I was planning to lay off of these kinds of posts a bit since the Court has mostly resumed jury trials, but I've heard that people miss them already (and they also tend to be our most-viewed posts). So here is another update!

Since our last update, the District of Delaware has held two jury trials, including a (partial) patent jury trial:

  • 5/20/2021: In Re Chanbond, LLC Patent Litigation, C.A. 15-842-RGA (D. Del.): This patent action ultimately settled after the first three days of the jury trial.
  • 6/7/2021: Clark v. Coupe, C.A. No. 17-66-RGA ( …
View
Older

Archive