It can take quite a while to resolve summary judgment motions. In essentially every patent case they take up hundreds of pages of briefing accompanied by hundreds more pages of declarations, reports, and exhibits on the most arcane technical matters.
For this reason, all of our Article III judges' form scheduling orders (except Judge Andrews) explicitly instruct the parties to leave 3 or 4 months (3 for Judge Connolly, 4 for the remainder) between the close of briefing and the pretrial conference.
Because a modern patent trial tends to involve a great deal of back and forth on exhibit lists, designations, statements of facts, etc., the pretrial order is usually prepared -- or at least begun -- without the benefit of a decision on Summary Judgment and Daubert Motions. It's a pain, but there's really nothing to be done about it.
Or is there?
The defendants in Novartis Pharms. Corp. v. HEC Pharm Co., Ltd., C.A. No. 20-133-JLH, F.I. 466 (D. Del. Oct. 28, 2025) decided to see if they could cut through this Gordian knot. Following Judge Hall's procedures, SJ briefing in that case concluded in September, and the pretrial conference was set for January. The schedule also had a hearing on the SJ motions set for December.
In October, as the parties began negotiating a pretrial exchange schedule, the defendants moved to continue the case and vacate the trial date pending a decision on the Dispositive motions which apparently covered infringement, validity and damages.
Plaintiff opposed, noting that Defendants had been aware of the schedule for many months and could not be heard to complain now.
Judge Hall was apparently unswayed by the request, denying the motion in a brief oral order a week after it was filed:
Defendants' Motion for Continuance of Pre-Trial Deadlines and Trial Date (D.I. 460 ) is DENIED.
Given that essentially all of the cases in the district follow a similar schedule, its perhaps not terribly surprising that an opposed motion on these grounds would be denied. Perhaps the more interesting question is whether a stipulated motion might have fared any better. I'll let you know if we see one.
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