I noticed a new visiting judge here in the District of Delaware this month: Senior United States District Judge Joel H. Slomsky of the Eastern District of PA.
To my knowledge, Judge Slomsky has not previously served as a visiting judge in the District of Delaware, other than signing one stipulation on an emergency basis back in 2010. It looks like Judge Slomsky took on four patent cases this month.
Welcome, Judge Slomsky!
This isn't news for Delaware FBA members, since Delaware FBA president Jeremy Tigan helpfully sent around an e-mail yesterday.
But for anyone who isn't already aware, Judge Stark's investiture will take place on Thursday 10/13 at 3:00 P.M. ET. You can watch it live here. That link should be active about 15 minutes before the event. Congratulations again to Judge Stark!
Today we started seeing cases re-assigned to incoming Judge Williams. So far, we've seen re-assignments in cases from Chief Judge Connolly and Judge Noreika, including in a case that is set for trial next month. I've only seen one of our firm's vacant judgeship case re-assigned so far, but I would expect many or all of those cases to go as well—we'll see.
Judge Williams doesn't yet have a listing on the District of Delaware website, but we'll keep an eye out for that too, and we'll most likely have a post about his procedures.
UPDATE: Judge Williams' page is now …
When the Court instituted its vacant judgeship procedures following Judge Stark's elevation to the Federal Circuit, the implementing order included procedures to keep cases moving if the parties do not consent to a magistrate judge to hear the case.
For example, the order directs parties to hold a Rule 26(f) conference within seven days of notifying the Court that the parties would not consent to a magistrate judge:
The parties shall cooperate in good faith to move the case forward. To that end, within seven days of filing the notice that the parties would not consent to a Magistrate Judge, the parties shall hold a Rule 26(f) …
We've recently flagged Judge Noreika's evolving practice of sometimes requiring parties to seek leave before filing summary judgment or Daubert motions. It doesn't seem to happen in every case, and so far the Court has often granted leave for at least one summary judgment or Daubert motion in each case. But it's worth keeping in mind if you have a case before Judge Noreika.
Yesterday, we saw a new variation on Judge Noreika's previous orders on this issue. She specifically noted that the trial was a bench trial (it is an ANDA case):
ORAL ORDER re . . . Stipulation and Proposed Order - WHEREAS, the parties have submitted a proposed stipulation that includes, inter alia, new …
We're a day late on this, but it could be major news for Delaware patent litigators: the Western District of Texas is ending its practice of sending all patent cases filed in Waco to Judge Alan Albright.
Previously, all cases filed in Waco, TX were assigned to Judge Albright, a former patent litigator. He has favorable rules for resolving cases quickly and putting pressure on accused infringers, although I'm not sure that they are quite as tilted towards patentees as Law360 makes them out to be.
According to Law360, Judge Albright received 23% of all patent lawsuits in 2021. That's a lot!
We'll have to see …
We wrote recently to report about the District of Delaware FBA's annual meeting, where the Court updated local practitioners about the state of the Court and upcoming changes. We promised an update when the Court issues its 2022 Annual Report.
Well, here is that update! The report is attached below in full. Some highlights include:
Law360 reports that the senate confirmed incoming District of Delaware Judge Gregory B. Williams today. Congratulations, Judge Williams!!
Today was the Federal Bar Association's annual luncheon, an annual event where the Chief Judges give updates on the status of Delaware's District and Bankruptcy courts.
This year's event was the first in-person meeting since the start of the COVID lockdowns. It was great to see everyone again in person!
Attendance was relatively low. Some speculated that this may be due to expiring FBA memberships. My theory is that there may have been an issue with the invitation e-mail (I never received it myself, and I'm a current FBA member).
In any case, I wanted to post some highlights and interesting facts from the speakers today, as we did for the virtual event last year:
On Friday, former District of Delaware Chief Judge Stark authored what I believe is his first Federal Circuit opinion as a sitting Federal Circuit judge: In re A. Zeta S.R.L., No. 2022-1178, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 15992, at *1 (Fed. Cir. June 10, 2022) (affirming a PTAB trademark decision).
Note—before you e-mail to say I'm wrong!—Judge Stark has sat by designation at the Federal Circuit many times before, and has authored at least one Federal Circuit opinion as a district judge. See, e.g., Mortg. Grader, Inc. v. First Choice Loan Servs., 811 F.3d 1314 (Fed. Cir. 2016). But I think this is his first written opinion since his nomination.
Interestingly, ever since moving to the Federal Circuit, …
