Posts Tagged: "standing orders"

Federal Circuit Rejects More Mandamus Petitions Seeking to Sidestep Delaware Court’s Standing Orders

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) on Wednesday issued two orders denying mandamus relief for petitioners seeking to end the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware’s “judicial inquisition” concerning disclosure of their owners and third-party litigation funders. Chief Judge Colm Connolly’s standing orders on initial disclosures in patent litigation cases have been the subject of much controversy and are presently being appealed at the CAFC in a separate case. They require up front disclosures from companies in patent cases assigned to Connolly of 1) “the name of every owner, member, and partner of the party, proceeding up the chain of ownership until the name of every individual and corporation with a direct or indirect interest in the party has been identified”; and 2) the identity of any third-party litigation funders.

Federal Circuit Rejects Mandamus Plea Seeking to Dodge Delaware Judge’s Disclosure Orders

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) yesterday denied a petition for writ of mandamus asking the Delaware district court to vacate an order to produce certain documents to ensure compliance with Chief Judge Connolly’s standing orders on initial disclosures in patent litigation cases. Nimitz Technologies LLC petitioned the CAFC asking it to vacate a November 10, 2022, order by the Delaware court demanding Nimitz produce documents including communications between Nimitz owner, Mark Hall, his counsel, and patent assertion entity IP Edge and the related entity, Mavexar. Following a failure to timely comply with the standing orders, Nimitz had initially told the court that Hall was the sole owner and LLC member of Nimitz and asserted in a statement that Nimitz “has not entered into any arrangement with a Third-Party Funder, as defined in the Court’s Standing Order Regarding Third-Party Litigation Funding Arrangements.”

Judge Albright Enters New Standing Orders on Motions to Transfer for Conformity with CAFC Mandates

On June 8, U.S. District Judge Alan D. Albright of the Western District of Texas signed an amended pair of standing orders regarding motions to transfer filed in patent infringement cases on his docket. The standing orders, which limit venue and jurisdictional discovery as well as require party status reports on motions to transfer, balances judicial efficiency with fairness to patent litigators in a court that has absolutely become one of, if not the, most important court in U.S. patent law today.