A bit more than a year ago, Chief Judge Connolly issued his Standing Order for Summary Judgment Practice in Patent Cases Assigned to Judge Connolly (D. Del. Apr. 30, 2021), with the explicit purpose of "deter[ring] parties from filing meritless motions."
Rather than let this anniversary pass totally unmarked, I thought it might be fruitful to examine the effect this procedure has had on the number and, to the extent it can be measured, the quality of the summary judgment motions brought before Chief Judge Connolly. To that end I've gathered the following interesting tidbits—note that this data does not include motions brought in odd procedural postures (e.g., early motions where leave was requested or those specifically invited by the Court), or cases that have not yet been decided:
- Prior to Standing Order
- After Standing Order
It's difficult to come to any determination on the overall quality of the motions the parties are continuing to file. I was a bit surprised to see the motions/case metric was so similar before and after the order—not so much because 2ish motions a side strikes me as odd, but because there continue to be a non-trivial number of cases with 3 or 4 motions from both sides (although it does seem that the days of 5 or 6 motions are now fully behind us). It will be interesting to see if motions continue to be filed at the same rate in the coming years, or if we'll see a dropoff as parties acclimate to the new procedure.
Check in next year for an update!
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