Yesterday, Magistrate Judge Burke released a new form scheduling order. There are redlines embedded below.
Here is a quick rundown of some of the changes in the patent scheduling order:
- Added from Judge Andrews' scheduling order:
- A requirement for plaintiffs to provide licenses and settlement agreements as part of their disclosures
- A prompt in the scheduling order for the parties to consider a staged reduction of asserted claims and prior art, before and after claim construction (this comes up a lot)
- Added from Judges Connolly, Noreika, and/or Hall's scheduling orders:
- A requirement to include chart at the end listing the deadlines all together (convenient!)
- A Concise Statement of Facts requirement for summary judgment
- He now requires a "Motion for Claim Construction," like Judge Connolly
- Other changes:
- A new procedure for motions to stay, where they receive an abbreviated briefing schedule and shorter page limits
- Tech tutorials are now optional and objections are due sooner
- Adjustments to his discovery dispute procedures, courtesy copy rules, and rules for motions to amend and strike
- No summary judgment in ANDA cases absent approval (a common limitation)
It's interesting to see more judges adopting the concise statement of facts requirement for summary judgment—I imagine it will lead to more case law regarding what should and should not be in them.
If you enjoyed this post, consider subscribing to receive free e-mail updates about new posts.
