A Blog About Intellectual Property Litigation and the District of Delaware


Entries for tag: Vacant Judgeship

Judge Williams' Form Patent Scheduling Orders Mirror Judge Noreika's—With Some Changes

Andrew E. Russell, Sept. 14, 2022
Scheduling Orders Vacant Judgeship

Quilt
Olga Ferina, Unsplash

Judge Williams has now posted his form scheduling orders on the District of Delaware website.

I took a look through his non-ANDA scheduling order, and it will be extremely familiar to Delaware practitioners. It mostly tracks Judge Noreika's form order.

Judge Williams' form order does, however, pull in portions from other Delaware judges' form scheduling orders. Here are some changes in Judge Williams' new form order as compared to Judge Noreika's form:

  • Discovery disputes and motions to amend or strike use language from Judge Stark's form scheduling order.
    • Parties sometimes get tripped up on this, and forget that motions to amend or strike have special rules—so keep that in mind if you have a Judge …
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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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District of Delaware's 2022 Annual Report: Updates on Judge Williams' Timing, Court Caseload

Andrew E. Russell, July 25, 2022
Annual Report Congestion

Annual Report 2021
U.S. District Court

We wrote recently to report about the District of Delaware FBA's annual meeting, where the Court updated local practitioners about the state of the Court and upcoming changes. We promised an update when the Court issues its 2022 Annual Report.

Well, here is that update! The report is attached below in full. Some highlights include:

  • The report notes that the last five judges nominated to the District of Delaware took their oaths of office and entered duty within two weeks of confirmation by the Senate. The Senate confirmed Judge Williams on July 20, 2022. Doing the math, if history repeats itself, we should see Judge Williams start by Wednesday August 3, 2022. That's good news …
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