Welcome to the latest edition of the Richards, Layton & Finger Intellectual Property Law Update. As always, if you have questions about any of the decisions discussed below or the District of Delaware in general, please let us know. U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware Releases Annual ReportThe U.S. District Court for the District…
In Rockwell Automation, Inc. v. EU Automation, Inc., No. 21-1162-MN (Aug. 19, 2022), a trademark case, Judge Noreika overruled objections to a magistrate judge report filed by one of the defendants (referred to in the decision as “EU Illinois”). The magistrate judge had recommended that EU Illinois’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction be…
In TQ Delta, LLC v. Comcast Cable Communications LLC, No. 15-611-RGA (Aug. 11, 2022), and related patent actions, Special Master Gregory B. Williams partially granted the defendants’ motion to strike as untimely certain damages theories. Earlier, the special master had ordered the plaintiff to supplement its Fed. R. Civ. P. 26 disclosures and damages interrogatory responses…
In Sight Sciences, Inc. v. Ivantis, Inc., No. 21-1317-VAC-SRF (Aug. 16, 2022) (oral order), a patent case, Magistrate Judge Fallon denied the plaintiff’s request to exclude in-house counsel from having access to discovery designated attorneys’ eyes only, which would have prevented an in-house attorney of the defendant from viewing such discovery. According to the court, a…
The U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware has released its 2022 Annual Report. The report notes that from 2014 to 2021, intellectual property cases have made up 46% of the court’s civil caseload; for 2021, that figure was 49%, nearly all of which were patent cases. The report is available here.…
Your company has just been served with a preference complaint. The complaint seeks to recover tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, even though your company has already taken a loss on the debtor’s accounts. Your initial response is anger at the unfairness of being sued. Fortunately, under Bankruptcy Code § 547(b), Congress included defenses against…
Where a literal reading yields a result at odds with what the drafters would have reasonably intended (which itself derives from the commercial context evidenced in plain terms throughout the instrument), literal meaning gives way to a more nuanced “objective” meaning. This article explores the application of this key precept in the interpretation of charters and…
District Court of Delaware Announces New 5 PM Filing Deadline On August 16, 2022, the United States District Court for the District of Delaware announced a revision to its Revised Administrative Procedures Governing Filing and Service by Electronic Means to reflect a new filing and service deadline of 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The revision is effective…
Over the past decade, some of the most important aspects of Chapter 11 reorganizations have been sent to mediation with increased frequency. Headline-grabbing cases like The Weinstein Companies, Purdue Pharma and Boy Scouts of America have all turned to mediation to attempt to achieve consensus concerning significant tort, personal injury and abuse claims, while smaller and/or…
The Delaware General Assembly recently enacted amendments to the Delaware Statutory Trust Act (the “DSTA”) which will become effective partially on August 1, 2022 and partially on August 1, 2023. The amendments make a variety of changes relating to the nature and operation of Delaware statutory trusts (“DSTs”), including amendments (i) adding business development companies to…