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Graham Factors Are Crackers

Nathan R. Hoeschen, May 14, 2024

Motions for summary judgment that a particular patent is "not invalid" (why can't we just say valid? I think the patents would like that better) are generally pretty winnable.

Why do they have to say it like that doc? Why can't I just be valid? Do you know what it's like knowing the exact moment I'll expire? The anticipation's killing me!
Why do they have to say it like that doc? Why can't I just be valid? Do you know what it's like knowing the exact moment I'll expire? The anticipation's killing me! AI-Generated, displayed with permission

A brief survey of the last 10 such decisions found that fully half were granted. Most of those decisions, however, dealt with 112 or 101 issues. If you're moving on your more classic obviousness and anticipation issues, however, you've got a pretty rocky row to hoe. A look back at those opinions finds that only 30% of the last 10 were granted, at least one of which appeared to deal with a defense that was largely abandoned.

Today's opinion in Qorvo, Inc. v. Akoustis Techs., Inc., C.A. No. 21-1417-JPM, D.I. 557 (D. Del. May 2, 2024), is a good example of a situation where such a motion is worth shooting for (and possible ordering higher in your list). The plaintiff, Qorvo (pronounced just like it looks), complained that the defendant's obviousness expert had failed to present any testimony on the motivation to combine. Defendant countered that their expert had done the appropriate analysis, but had simply failed to use various "buzz words" from Graham, KSR, and the like.

Judge McCalla agreed with ...

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Fixing a Judgment: Rule 59 vs. Rule 60

Andrew E. Russell, May 13, 2024
FRCP 59 FRCP 60

I know which one I'd prefer.
I know which one I'd prefer. AI-Generated, displayed with permission

Because cases tend to go away rapidly over time, either through settlement or on the merits, attorneys tend to be less experienced with motions that come up later in the case, particularly things that come up after the judgment (other than post-trial motions), or even after appeal.

One example is a motion to alter or amend a judgment under FRCP 59(e). You just don't see them that often. So I thought it was worth talking about a Rule 59(e) motion that the Court addressed last week.

In The United States of America v. Gilead Sciences, Inc., C.A. No. 19-2103 (D. Del.), the plaintiff argued that the …

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Judge Noreika Denies § 101 Motion Without Addressing Merits Where Scheduling Order Permits Assertion of Additional Claims

Andrew E. Russell, May 10, 2024
MTD Motion to Dismiss

Pixelated Game Over screen on an oversized PAC-MAN arcade machine
Sigmund, Unsplash

Judge Noreika issued an interesting order yesterday denying a § 101 motion to dismiss. According to the docket, shortly after the defendant filed its motion to dismiss—and contrary to what we found when we last looked at this—the Court directed the parties to meet-and-confer on a proposed schedule.

While the motion to dismiss was pending, the Court held a scheduling conference and issued a scheduling order. In it, the parties agreed to a real case narrowing proposal (without court intervention!), with plaintiff to initially cut back to 20 asserted claims per patent and 50 total by initial contentions, and then further cut back to 25 total just before final contentions.

After the Court entered the schedule, …

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Delay Is a Motion Killer: Part Two

Andrew E. Russell, May 8, 2024
Discovery Disputes Motion Practice

Do It Now
Brett Jordan, Unsplash

Last month we wrote about how delay is a motion killer. Procrastination is a problem most of us litigators share. But if you want your discovery motion granted, it's best to move now not later. Keep up the pressure.

We got another example of that yesterday in Tot Power Control, S.L. v. LG Electronics Inc., C.A. No. 21-1304-MN (D. Del. Apr. 23, 2024) (unsealed May 7, 2024). Tot is an opinion by Judge Fallon on several discovery motions, and two of them were denied due to delay.

First, the Court denied a request to compel plaintiff to produce communications related to valuations it received. Back in June 2023, the plaintiff had agreed …

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Judge Hall Cancels Markman, Defers SJ After Parties Propose 18 Terms

Andrew E. Russell, May 4, 2024

Eject Button
Brian De Groodt, Unsplash

We post often about how the Court handles Markman, and how much leeway the judges will give parties in seeking to construe terms (hint: it's usually 10 terms or less—and, these days, that's the total number, not the 10 terms per patent of old.).

This week, after parties in a case before Judge Hall sought construction of 18 terms, the Court vacated the Markman hearing and briefing schedule, and deferred all construction to the case dispositive motions stage (seemingly without additional pages):

ORAL ORDER: The parties have submitted a joint claim chart (D.I. 105 ) with 18 terms in dispute including, for example, "calculate" and "random." Defendants contend that 9 of the 18 disputed …
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A Further Front In The Redaction War

Nathan R. Hoeschen, May 2, 2024
Redactions

As we've mentioned previously, it has been Judge Andrews' practice for the past couple years to summarily reject filings that seal exhibits in their entirety, with an order like the following:

Aretm Kniaz, Unsplash
The redacted filings (D.I. 453 , 454 , and 458 ) are REJECTED because parts of them are redacted in their entirety. Absent a compelling reason, supported by a statement under oath by a party, redactions in their entirety are impermissible; redactions must be done so as to redact the least possible amount of the materials submitted. Failure to make a good faith attempt at such redactions may result in sanctions, the most common of which would be simply unsealing the entire filing. Redacting …
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Early Candidate for "Most Interesting Opinion of the Year": Judge Connolly Rejects Fees, Finding Both Sides Misled the Court and Engaged in Vexatious Conduct

Andrew E. Russell, May 1, 2024
Attorney's Fees

Stick Figures Fighting
AI-Generated

For attorneys who practice in D. Del., Judge Connolly's opinion yesterday in Pharmacyclics LLC v. Alvogen Pine Brook LLC, C.A. No. 19-434-CFC (D. Del. Apr. 30, 2024) is a real page turner, and well worth reading. If you want to avoid spoilers, go read it now! It's attached below, and it's only 11 pages.

Spoilers below:

It's rare for a judge to conclude that either side—let alone both—misled the Court and litigated vexatiously. But that's just what Judge Connolly found here, after the plaintiff moved for fees under 35 U.S.C. § 285.

In holding that the defendants litigated vexatiously, the Court offered two primary examples of their misdeeds. The first relates to unsupportable allegations …

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License Offers Excluded for Thee but Not for Me

Andrew E. Russell, April 29, 2024
Damages MILs

License for Thee
AI-Generated, displayed with permission

Maybe it's just me, but pre-trial evidentiary opinions are always fun to read. They often involve rules that don't come up in other written opinions, and all of the rulings tend to be highly impactful for trial (otherwise the parties wouldn't be spending their extremely limited pre-trial time and MILs on the issues).

We got an opinion from Judge Bryson last week on pre-trial evidentiary issues in Acceleration Bay LLC v. Activision Blizzard Inc., C.A. No. 16-453-WCB (D. Del. Apr. 28, 2024). There are a number of interesting rulings in it, but one in particular that is worth calling out involved whether a party can offer evidence of past licenses to prove damages. …

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Court Grants Financial Discovery on Unaccused Products "Associated with Accused Model Numbers"

Andrew E. Russell, April 25, 2024
Discovery Dispute

Colored Plants
Scott Webb, Unsplash

This decision is a bit dense, but it's on an issue that could come up in any case.

The plaintiff in TOT Power Control, S.L. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., C.A. No. 21-1305-MN (D. Del.) accused several products by name, and also stated in its infringement contentions that it would "seek discovery as to the identity of any [of the defendant's] products with substantially similar designs to the expressly listed accused products." D.I. 131.

The case progressed, and it turns out that the defendant does, indeed, have multiple products with similar names. The Court ultimately granted a motion to compel the defendant to provide financial discovery on each of the alternative products, even …

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Do We Now Know the Magic Words for Having Less Than 10 ESI Custodians?

Andrew E. Russell, April 24, 2024
Default Standard Discovery Dispute

"Our two identified custodians have the 'majority' of relevant docs and any others have 'duplicative' info." Discovery dispute goes *poof*? AI-Generated, displayed with permission

In the District of Delaware, unless the parties agree otherwise, ESI discovery is guided by the Default Standard for Discovery. The Court published the Default Standard over a decade ago, and at this point quite a bit of case law has developed interpreting its various provisions.

Among other things, the Default Standard requires each party to identify "[t]he 10 custodians most likely to have discoverable information" in a case. These custodians' files will ultimately be searched as part of the document production process.

One common question is: what if we have less than 10 custodians with discoverable information? The answer to that is typically "disclose what you have," but I had not seen a case setting a standard for when a party can disclose less than 10 custodians—until this week.

In Attentive Mobile Inc. v. 317 Labs, Inc., C.A. No. 22-1163-CJB (D. Del.), Judge Burke addressed a discovery dispute where the defendant identified just four custodians. He denied a motion to compel the identification of more custodians based on an argument that the four custodians had a "majority" of the non-duplicative ...

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