Twice in recent months, Judge Noreika has rejected scheduling proposals that failed to follow her form.
Most recently, in Acuity Brands Lighting, Inc. v. Ultravision Technologies, LLC (D. Del. 19-2207-MN), the judge noted that "[f]or the second time, the parties have changed portions of the Court's form order without obtaining (or requesting) leave of Court[.]" This included changes to her briefing procedures and courtesy copy requirements.
In another case, Board of Regents, The University of Texas System v. Boston Scientific Corp. (D. Del. 18-392-MN), the parties proposed early summary judgment briefing during claim construction, and tied most of the case deadlines to the court's issuance of a claim construction order. Judge Noreika rejected the proposal, ordering the parties to "confer and resubmit a new proposed schedule that is typically entered in these cases."
The next time you're working on a Delaware scheduling order, remember that the D. Del. judges spend a substantial amount of time developing their forms and procedures. And with hundreds of patent cases apiece, there's a high premium on uniformity (nobody wants to revisit their procedures in every new case). So unless you have the judge's approval, follow the forms!
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