Initial Discovery Info

[michael_b]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CALIFORNIA

I elected to fight my patent infringement lawsuit (pro se) with a strong backing of others in the same suit or in a similar position - all of us feel the patent is bogus and needs to be eliminated.

I have the 'date of events' on what needs to be filed and when. The plaintiff's attorney is filing any 'joint' documents electronically for them and me.

Is there a 'format' available I can see for the Initial Discovery? What needs to be submitted to them at a minimum?

mike

[divgradcurl]

Originally Posted by michael_b

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CALIFORNIA

I elected to fight my patent infringement lawsuit (pro se) with a strong backing of others in the same suit or in a similar position - all of us feel the patent is bogus and needs to be eliminated.

I have the 'date of events' on what needs to be filed and when. The plaintiff's attorney is filing any 'joint' documents electronically for them and me.

Is there a 'format' available I can see for the Initial Discovery? What needs to be submitted to them at a minimum?

mike

Initial discovery? Do you mean "initial disclosures?" If so, see FRCP 26: [url=http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/Rule26.htm]Federal Rules of Civil Procedure - Rule 26 (LII 2007 ed.)[/url].

You can probably Google around to see if you can find a model format, you can also see if your particular court has a model for how they want the pleadings to look.

[michael_b]

Good catch - too many things running through my mind. Yes - Initial Disclosures -- your link was perfect; got that done.

NOW: Also due on Friday is my "First Round of Written Discovery" which "is to focus upon the parties’ respective bases for infringement or non-infringement of the asserted claims" according to the Planning Meeting (rule 25f).

In English, I just need to indicate my reasoning why I am not infringing on the claim? I don't have to come up with the information I want to 'discover' yet?

Thanks.

[divgradcurl]

Originally Posted by michael_b

Good catch - too many things running through my mind. Yes - Initial Disclosures -- your link was perfect; got that done.

NOW: Also due on Friday is my "First Round of Written Discovery" which "is to focus upon the parties’ respective bases for infringement or non-infringement of the asserted claims" according to the Planning Meeting (rule 25f).

In English, I just need to indicate my reasoning why I am not infringing on the claim? I don't have to come up with the information I want to 'discover' yet?

Thanks.

You will need to look either to the Court's local rules of practice (if you are in California, the Court will almost certainly have a set of local rules specific to patent cases in addition to the more general local rules) or to the scheduling order itself (the Rule 26(f) order) for more specific information. Typically in a patent case, there is no "due date" for the service of requests for production of documents or interrogatories on the other side, just a last date for service (and it is much later than the initial disclosures due date). Perhaps you are confusing this with the service of infringement contentions and invalidty contentions?

[michael_b]

Thanks - your information is always appreciated and helpful. Here is the text directly copied form the 26(f) Report: (I removed some of the text where dates are not present. If you really want it all, I can post it). The info pertaining to my question Iis in underlined-italics below.

A. Basis for Subject Matter Jurisdiction
Plaintiff’s claims for patent infringement arise under the patent laws of the United States, Title 35 United States Code, particularly §§ 271 and 281. The Court has jurisdiction over the subject matter of Plaintiff’s claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1338(a).
B. Factual and Legal Basis of Claims and Defenses
This case generally pertains to a ......
C. Proposed Completion for Fact/Expert Discovery
...the parties believe that Initial Expert Reports should be produced on April 16, 2010 and rebuttal reports should be produced on May 14, 2010.
D. Pre-Trial Conference and Trial Dates
The parties propose a trial date of October 5, 2010 and estimate that a jury trial on the merits will require 3-5 court days. The final pre-trial conference should be held on September 27, 2010.
E. Procedural or Evidentiary Problems
... the parties propose that Plaintiff identify the asserted claims and the parties exchange an initial round of written discovery on October 16, 2009 with response due on November 18, 2009. This initial round of written discovery is to focus upon the parties’ respective bases for infringement or non-infringement of the asserted claims. The parties then propose that a joint claim construction brief be filed by January 8, 2010 followed by opposition briefs (January 25, 2010) and a hearing (February 8, 2010) pursuant to the Local Rules.

Originally Posted by divgradcurl

You will need to look either to the Court's local rules of practice (if you are in California, the Court will almost certainly have a set of local rules specific to patent cases in addition to the more general local rules) or to the scheduling order itself (the Rule 26(f) order) for more specific information. Typically in a patent case, there is no "due date" for the service of requests for production of documents or interrogatories on the other side, just a last date for service (and it is much later than the initial disclosures due date). Perhaps you are confusing this with the service of infringement contentions and invalidty contentions?

[divgradcurl]

Seems like a pretty fast timeline if you just got done with initial disclosures -- are you the Southern District?

Anyway, it looks like what the court is requiring is interrogatories and requests for documents related to infringement -- most likely from the defendant's side, you would be asking for stuff like the specific basis for infringement for each claim of each patent and for each accused product, along with all documents supporting such basis, that sort of stuff. You can use Google to try and find stuff, you may also want to hit up a local law library (their may be a law library open to the public in your city or a nearby city) to see if you can access something like the Horowitz treatises (or maybe the Miller Federal Practice treatises) for some ideas on model interrogatories and model requests for production.