Comcast Cable Communications, LLC v. OpenTV, Inc. et al

Filing 82

CASE MANAGEMENT ORDER RE PILOT SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTIONS. Signed by Judge Alsup on 3/13/2017. Motions due by 6/26/2017. (whalc2, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 3/13/2017)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8 9 11 For the Northern District of California United States District Court 10 COMCAST CABLE COMMUNICATIONS, LLC, Plaintiff, 12 13 No. C 16-06180 WHA v. 14 OPENTV, INC., and NAGRAVISION SA, 15 CASE MANAGEMENT ORDER RE PILOT SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTIONS Defendants. / 16 17 In this patent action for declaratory judgment of non-infringement, in which over one 18 hundred claims from 13 patents are asserted against plaintiff Comcast Cable Communications, 19 LLC’s accused products and services, the following procedure shall be used to more quickly 20 and efficiently reach the merits. For this procedure, defendants and patent owners OpenTV, 21 Inc., and Nagravision SA shall select one — and only one — claim, presumably their strongest 22 case for infringement. Plaintiff and accused infringer Comcast shall also select one — and only 23 one — claim, presumably its strongest case for non-infringement or invalidity. Each side shall 24 then move for summary judgment on its chosen claim, to be heard on the normal 35-day track. 25 Once Comcast files its motion, OpenTV and Nagravision may not “withdraw” their chosen 26 claim, so they should take care to assert only claims they expect to win on. 27 28 The Court has reviewed the parties’ jointly proposed schedule for these early summary judgment motions (Dkt. No. 78). The proposed schedule and deadlines are hereby incorporated 1 into and deemed a part of this order. To be clear, however, this order does not obviate or 2 otherwise alter the parties’ obligations under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, our Civil 3 Local Rules, or our Patent Local Rules as to any claims other than the ones chosen for early 4 summary judgment. For example, any disclosures due thereunder must be timely made in full 5 as to all hundred-plus claims in suit. And, because “[t]he parties disagree on the scope of early 6 summary judgment motions” (id. at 3), this order further clarifies that each side’s early 7 summary judgment motion should be as to all issues — including infringement, invalidity, or 8 both — for its chosen claim. The outcome of this exchange may (or may not) warrant an 9 injunction (if the asserted claims are as strong as OpenTV and Nagravision say) or terminating or other sanctions (if the asserted claims are as weak as Comcast says). Those potential 11 For the Northern District of California United States District Court 10 remedies will be litigated soon after the motions for summary judgment are decided (depending, 12 of course, on the outcome). In addition to adjudicating the chosen claims on their merits and 13 indicating the relative strengths (or weaknesses) of both sides’ positions, this procedure will 14 further serve to educate the undersigned judge about the overall technology at issue. 15 Both sides shall please refrain from attempting to delay this procedure on the basis that 16 more discovery is needed. OpenTV and Nagravision have had ample opportunity before this 17 point to reverse engineer the Comcast technology in question, and are in an even better position 18 to do so now that discovery is already underway in the ordinary course of this litigation. This 19 case management order does not interfere with the existing discovery schedule, but no requests 20 for extensions purportedly necessary in light of that schedule will be entertained. 21 Pursuant to the parties’ proposed schedule, the early motions for summary judgment 22 must be filed by JUNE 26, to be heard on AUGUST 3. If issues of fact prevent summary 23 judgment, then we will have a trial on the disputed points soon thereafter, approximately three 24 weeks after the hearing. Both sides shall please plan their calendars accordingly. 25 26 IT IS SO ORDERED. 27 28 Dated: March 13, 2017. WILLIAM ALSUP UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 2

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