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8 United States District Court
9 Central District of California
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11 [PLAINTIFF], Case № 2:XX-cv-0XXXX-ODW(XXx)
12 Plaintiff,
13 v. PATENT STANDING ORDER
14 [DEFENDANT],
15 Defendant.
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17 UNLESS OTHERWISE ORDERED BY THE COURT, THE FOLLOWING
18 RULES APPLY TO ALL PATENT CASES ASSIGNED TO JUDGE OTIS D.
19 WRIGHT, II. WHERE THESE RULES CONFLICT WITH RULES
20 PROMULGATED ELSEWHERE, THIS DOCUMENT CONTROLS.
21 1. Patent Local Rules
22 The Court adopts the Patent Local Rules of the United States District Court for
23 the Northern District of California (the “Patent Local Rules”). Parties are expected to
24 familiarize themselves with and closely adhere to these rules. A copy of the rules may
25 be found at http://www.cand.uscourts.gov/localrules.
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1 2. Patent Case Timeline
2 The timeline set forth in the Patent Local Rules represents the maximum
3 lifecycle duration, not the typical. In most cases, the Court will issue a scheduling
4 order that is less than the maximum lifecycle prescribed by the Patent Local Rules.
5 3. Summary-Judgment Motions
6 Prior to filing any summary-judgment motion, the parties must submit letter
7 briefs requesting permission to file the motion. The opening letter brief must be no
8 longer than 5 pages and filed electronically with the Court via CM/ECF as a “Request
9 for Leave to File Motion for Summary Judgment.” The letter brief must state the
10 basis for the summary-judgment motion and reasons why the motion is not premature.
11 Opposition letter briefs must be no longer than 5 pages and filed with the Court no
12 later than 7 days after the opening letter brief. No reply letter briefs may be filed
13 without the Court’s permission. No hearing will be held unless otherwise ordered by
14 the Court.
15 The Court typically sets the motion deadline for 8 weeks after the discovery
16 cutoff. Because the Court requires that the party moving for summary judgment
17 provide no less than 35 days’ notice for such motions, and parties must have the
18 Court’s permission to file a summary-judgment motion, parties are advised to file their
19 opening letter briefs well in advance of the motion cutoff.
20 The Court reminds counsel of their obligation to meet and confer prior to filing
21 the letter briefs. See L.R. 7-3.
22 4. Markman Claim-Construction Hearing
23 Parties must notice a Markman hearing (as a motion) according to the
24 timeframe specified in the Patent Local Rules and the Court’s scheduling order. See
25 Patent L.R. 4-6. Failure to properly notice will result in delays, and sanctions may be
26 imposed for failure to abide by the Court’s scheduling order. Pursuant to the Patent
27 Local Rules, the Court may make necessary adjustments to the requested Markman
28 hearing date to accommodate the Court’s calendar.
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1 The Court will not entertain requests to continue the discovery cut-off date
2 absent good cause. Thus, if parties desire more time for discovery after—rather than
3 before—the Markman hearing, parties should take less than the maximum allotted
4 time under Patent Local Rules 3-1 to 3-5, 3-7, and 4-1 to 4-5.
5 The Markman hearing is scheduled for a maximum of 2 hours. Each side will
6 have a maximum of 1 hour to present evidence and argument in support of its
7 position. The parties may ask the Court well in advance if they need additional time.
8 The parties are reminded that additional time is disfavored since the Court will rely
9 heavily on the submitted briefs in making its decision. The parties are encouraged to
10 simplify the issues and focus on their main arguments during the Markman hearing.
11 Subject to the Court’s approval, parties will jointly agree to the format of the
12 Markman hearing.
13 The claim construction briefs have the following page limits: 25 for opening
14 and response, 12 for reply. Copies of all exhibits must be pre-marked, bound, and
15 tabbed. In addition to memoranda, parties must collaborate and jointly submit the
16 following: (1) Final Joint Claim Chart, which includes citations to intrinsic and
17 extrinsic evidence—to be filed on the same day as the opening brief; (2) Joint
18 Appendix of Extrinsic Evidence, which contains all extrinsic evidence relied upon in
19 the claim construction briefing—to be filed and served on the same day as the reply
20 brief.
21 If a party intends to present expert testimony at the Markman hearing, whether
22 as a witness or by way of affidavit, a statement of the expert’s qualifications must be
23 submitted as an additional attachment to any memorandum submitted. If the parties
24 intend to present live witness testimony during the hearing, they should bring one
25 additional copy of the Appendix of Extrinsic Evidence for the witness stand.
26 Parties are further reminded of the 10-term limit for construction. Patent
27 L.R. 4-3(c). Failure to make a good faith effort to narrow the disputed terms may
28 expose counsel to sanctions. Patent L.R. 4-7.
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1 5. Technology Tutorial
2 The Court may request and strongly encourages the parties to hold a technology
3 tutorial prior to the Markman hearing. Parties shall file a joint statement proposing
4 the desired format of the tutorial at least 6 weeks prior to the Markman hearing. The
5 parties should meet and confer prior to filing the joint statement.
6 The Court will schedule an additional 1 hour maximum to the Markman hearing
7 for the tutorial. The parties may ask the Court well in advance if they need additional
8 time. Any remaining time from the tutorial will not be added to extend the total time
9 for arguments and evidence at the Markman hearing. The tutorial must be conducted
10 solely as an objective presentation of the technology at issue. Visual aids and
11 demonstrative exhibits are strongly encouraged. Parties shall comply with the format,
12 time limitations, and scheduling rules set out in the forthcoming scheduling and case-
13 management order.
14 All materials utilized in the technology tutorial shall be lodged with the Court
15 by no later than 7 days prior to the tutorial. The parties may include a memorandum,
16 not to exceed 5 pages, summarizing the materials and tutorial.
17 6. Discovery
18 The Court expects the parties to resolve discovery issues by themselves in a
19 courteous, reasonable, and professional manner. Unless otherwise directed, the
20 assigned Magistrate Judge will rule on all discovery motions and handle all
21 discovery issues. Parties may also choose to consent to proceed before a United
22 States Magistrate Judge for all purposes by filing a Central District form CV-11D.
23 Because patent cases tend to involve significant discovery concerning
24 confidential documents, parties are encouraged to file a stipulated protective order as
25 soon as possible. If one was not filed earlier, the Court requires parties to lodge a
26 stipulated protective order along with the parties’ joint scheduling conference report
27 under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(f), unless the parties deem such a protective
28 order unnecessary in this case.
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1 7. Patent File Histories
2 Concurrently with the parties’ filing of the Joint Claim Construction and
3 Prehearing Statement under Patent Local Rule 4-3, patentees are required to provide
4 the Court a certified copy of the patent file history for each asserted patent.
5 The patent file history must be printed double-sided and compiled in a three-
6 ring binder. Prior art references1 should not be included in the paper copy. In addition
7 to the paper copy of the patent file history, the patentee must submit an electronic
8 copy on a flash drive, CD-ROM, or DVD. Each patent file history must be a single
9 electronic file in PDF format. All prior art references must also be included on the
10 flash drive, CD-ROM, or DVD, with each prior art reference appearing as a separate,
11 identifiable PDF file. The patent file history and the associated flash drives,
12 CD-ROMs, or DVDs should be sent directly to Judge Wright’s chambers and not filed
13 with the Clerk’s office or via CM/ECF.
14 8. Jury Instructions and Special Jury Verdict Form
15 Although not mandatory, the Court favors the adoption of the Model Patent Jury
16 Instructions for the Northern District of California. Further, prior to the pre-trial
17 conference, the Court requires parties to file, among other documents, a proposed
18 special jury verdict form substantially based on the Sample Verdict Form,
19 Appendix C.3 of the Model Patent Jury Instructions for the Northern District of
20 California. A copy of the Model Patent Jury Instructions may be found at
21 https://www.cand.uscourts.gov/forms/jury-instructions.
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28 The documents listed under the “References Cited” section of the patent.
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1 9. Damages Contentions
2 The Court will not impose the damages contentions disclosures required by
3 Patent Local Rule 3-8 and 3-9 unless the parties jointly request them.
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5 IT IS SO ORDERED.
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7 January X, 2025
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9 ____________________________________
10 OTIS D. WRIGHT, II
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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