In VIIV Healthcare Company et al v. Gilead Sciences, Inc., Judge Burke issued a rare oral order striking a new expert opinion offered for the first time at deposition....
Entries for date: July 2020
Delaware corporations always face an uphill battle when moving to transfer. In patent cases, most of the transfer factors tend to be neutral, and the plaintiff's choice of forum is given significant weight. So it's important to make a strong showing on the handful of factors where a defendant can move the needle.
Just before the July 4 holiday, Chief Judge Stark provided some much-anticipated guidance regarding the reinstatement of jury trials in the District of Delaware after the current moratorium expires on July 31, 2020.
In a July 2, 2020 order in Sunoco Partners Marketing & Terminals L.P. v. Powder Springs Logistics, LLC, C.A. No. 17-1390-LPS-CJB, Judge Stark told the parties that he had spent "countless hours" meeting with experts and stakeholders about restarting jury trials in his capacity as Chief Judge, and that the Court was "undertaking extensive efforts to be ready to resume jury trials in August, if it is possible to do so safely." With that background, he outlined the details of how the jury trial in the Sunoco case will proceed on August 3, 2020.
In a brief § 101 opinion today, Judge Andrews denied a MTD based solely on Alice step 2. He relied primarily on allegations in the complaint that various claimed features of the invention were not routine or conventional:
Plaintiff . . . alleges in its amended complaint that the [asserted] claims incorporate “inventive concepts that were not well-understood, routine, or conventional at the time” of invention. . . . For example, the amended complaint alleges that some claims teach ways of displaying performance parameters so that users of both live and archived classes can compete with one another. . . . The amended complaint alleges that these functionalities were nonroutine and unconventional at the time of the invention and helped …
Judge Andrews is holding a virtual bench trial in a contract action today. The Court posted a dial-in for public access:
Remark: The public may access the Bench Trial scheduled to start 7/6/2020 by dialing the following phone number: 571-353-2300, then enter 792973273. The dial-in information provides listening capabilities only. (crb) (Entered: 07/06/2020)
Judge Andrews set forth his reasoning for holding a virtual trial in an order in June:
I had a teleconference with the parties on June 5. I suggested a virtual trial. I did not think it was fair for one side to have lawyers in the courtroom while the other side did not. A virtual trial (by which …
Twice in the past month, Judge Connolly has questioned why defendants are not challenging post-complaint willfulness and indirect infringement claims.
