U.S. District Court of Maryland Local Rules (December 1, 2025)
VIII. PATENTS
RULE 801. SCOPE
Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, these Rules apply to all civil actions filed in or
transferred to this Court in which one or more parties (a) assert claims of patent
infringement; (b) seek a declaratory judgment that a patent is not infringed, is invalid, or is
unenforceable; (c) seek an order pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 256 directing the Director of
Patents of the United States Patent Office to issue a certificate to correct an error regarding
the identity of inventors; or (d) assert a claim pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 292 for false marking.
Section I of the Local Rules of this Court shall also apply to such actions, except to the
extent that they are inconsistent with the Local Rules in this Section VIII.
RULE 802. SCHEDULING CONFERENCE
Within seven (7) days after an Answer has been filed or, with respect to a case that has
been transferred to this District, within seven (7) days after the case has been docketed,
Plaintiff’s counsel shall contact all counsel and Chambers to arrange a telephone conference
between counsel for the parties and Chambers for the purpose of scheduling a Scheduling
Conference. Counsel should be prepared to address the following issues during the
Scheduling Conference:
a. Proposed modification of the obligations or deadlines set forth in Section
VIII of the Local Rules;
b. The scope and timing of discovery, including expert witness disclosures
and expert witness depositions, and limits on the total number of hours of
fact witness depositions;
c. The scope and timing of dispositive motions;
d. Limits on the number of patent claims that can be construed by each party;
e. The format of the Claim Construction Hearing, including whether the
Court will hear live testimony, the order of presentation, and the estimated
length of the hearing;
f. How the parties intend to educate the Court on the patent(s) at issue;
g. The need for any Confidentiality Order in accordance with L.R. 104.13;
h. Whether any party intends to seek discovery of electronically stored
information and whether the parties have reached an agreement on such
discovery. (The Court will expect that counsel will have reviewed the
