Leader Technologies Inc. v. Facebook Inc.

Filing 23

Official Transcript of Scheduling Conference held on 03-03-09 before Judge Joseph J. Farnan, Jr. Court Reporter/Transcriber Deanna Warner. Transcript may be viewed at the court public terminal or purchased through the Court Reporter/Transcriber before the deadline for Release of Transcript Restriction. After that date it may be obtained through PACER. Redaction Request due 3/27/2009. Redacted Transcript Deadline set for 4/6/2009. Release of Transcript Restriction set for 6/4/2009. (lad)

L e a d e r Technologies Inc. v. Facebook Inc.

Doc. 2

1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 WHITE & CASE B Y: HEIDI L. KEEFE , ESQ. Counsel for Defendant Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]
Dockets.Justia.

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF DELAWARE _ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ __ LEADER TECHNOLOGIES, ) INC. , a Delaware ) corporation, ) ) PLAINTIFF, ) ) v. ) C .A. No . 0 8-862 ) FACEBOOK, INC ., a ) Delaware corporation, ) ) DEFENDANT. ) _ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ Tuesday, March 3, 2009 2:0 0 p .m. Courtroom 4B 844 King Street Wilmington, Delaware BEFORE: THE HONORABLE JOSEPH J . FARNAN, JR . United States District Court Judge

APPEARANCES: POTTER ANDERSON & CORROON, LLP B Y: PHILIP ROVNER, ESQ. KING & SPALDING LLP B Y: PAUL ANDRE, ESQ. Counsel for Plaintiff BLANK & ROME, LLP B Y: STEVEN L . CAPONI, ESQ.

2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Honor. THE COURT: Okay. W e'r e here to Honor. Honor. THE COURT: Good afternoon. Do

you want to announce your appearances? MR . ROVNER: Good afternoon, Your

Phil Rovner from Potter Anderson for With me is Paul

plaintiff Leader Technologies. Andre from King and Spalding. MR . CAPONI:

Good afternoon, Your With

Steven Caponi from Blank and Rome.

me is the brains of the operation, Hei di Keefe from White and Case in Pal o Alto , California . MS . KEEFE: Good afternoon, Your

do some scheduling, and we have a disagreement. Pretty large, actually. plaintiff. MR . ANDRE: Thank you, Your Honor. So start with

Plaintiff's schedule is based on an eighteen - t o twenty- month trial schedule from the date of filing. What we did , w e looked at

twenty months out from the day w e file d the case and traveled backwards based on the Court 's scheduling order and imposed the dates . The first disagreement, Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]

3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 significant disagreement, is when the written discovery should be completed . four- month gap there . There' s about a

Our schedule is

aggressive, but I think written discovery can b e done in that time period just because parties tend to waste a lot of resources with written discovery b y trying to extend it out and go further and further. The biggest difference, scheduling difference, I see is in the Markman hearing. Defendants pro pose t o d o i t i n March 2010 , whereas we put it in August 2009 . That big

difference, I think, accounts for a lot o f the discrepancy here. Our position is that Mark man You don 't need

is based on an intrinsic record.

a year-and- a-half of discovery before the Markman process. difference. With respect t o some of the opening expert reports, Your Honor' s order had thirty days after the issuance of Markman. They I think that's a major

had suggested adjusting it to forty -five day s. I don 't see a need for that. And then with case dispositive Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]

4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 motions, we had provided a specific date of January 2010, and the defendants have put a date based on Markman, saying ninety days after the Markman decision. First of all, I'm not sure case dispositive motions are a good idea in a patent case. I think there are always issues of fact

that can be raised t o preclude i t, but that' s m y personal opinion. Nonethe less, I think having a

definite date on the calendar for parties to file that motion will a dvance the case at a proportional rate that makes it reasonable t o get t o trial i n a timely manner. The other dates that there are disagreements on, amendment pleading and joining new parties , I 'm not sure why the defendants want to push i t out so far . difference. There is a big

Those i ssuances -- I'l l let them I

address why they want t o push it out further .

don't understand why it would take ten months o r a year o r two for amendment pleadings. Thank you. THE COURT: MS . KEEFE: All right. Thank you.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]

5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 I think one of the places that w e have our largest disagreement has t o d o with what this case is even about, so I' ll back u p one step. One o f the reasons that we have proposed the schedule that we have is that w e'v e attempte d t o make sure that w e'r e not constantly coming back to Your Honor and constantly coming back and saying, "It didn' t quite work out. just need a little bit more time. sure about that. We weren' t We

We need to come back again ."

Since the very, very beginning of this case, we' ve actually been relatively -aggressive is the wrong word, but let' s just say there have been a number of phone calls to plaintiffs try ing to really ask what they 're accus ing in this case. And through a series of Not

conversations -- sure, I'l l let you know. really letting us know -- we finally got

discovery served on us, as well as one answer i n an e- mail that indicated they 're contemplating accusing the entire Facebook web site o f infringement. That would entail almost every Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]

6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 single document that Facebook has ever created since its inception. It could potentially

entail the inclusion of numerous third parties. There 's over 500, 000 applications that run on Facebook , and given the definition they' ve currently given us of what they consider to be the case , those applications could be included , and we could be talking about involving third parties in the case . Therefore,

we ex tended the time to amend pleading s and to add parties based on trying t o find out what aspects of our business are actually involve d i n this case. So needing to see at least one o r

two rounds of written discovery in order to try to understand the scope and breadth of what we 're dealing with here . We have no problem with coming back to Your Honor i f they come with a narrowing of the case to try t o put it on a shorter schedule. That's not what we 're worried about.

We 're worried about coming back to Your Honor t o try t o lengthen things because now we' ve realized that they really are accusing the whole site, and, therefore , w e'r e going t o have to go Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]

7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 to third parties, potentially outside the United States, et cetera , e t cetera. As far a s the other things with Markman and with dis positive motions, I'm not sure that a dispositive motion would have much value in a patent case without the claim construction. So we 've posited that the

dispositive motions be filed after we have the ruling o n claim construction. If the claim

construction hear ing is earlier, the dispositive motions cut -off date would be earlier. Similarly, I think Your Honor has dealt with the need, or lack thereof, with dispositive motions with your standing orders, which would indicate if there , i n fact , i s a factual issue, the briefing doesn't go forward. And i f there i s not, then the dispositive motion actually can b e extremely helpful. We anticipate at least hoping to file early summary judgment motions, if possible , especially if we find that the case i s narrower and narrower and we can actually go for an in validity charge . behind our schedule. Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone] That's what' s really

8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 THE COURT: Okay. Do you

understand in some general way today what your infringing activity is, generally? MS . KEEFE: To be completely I' ve taken the

honest, Your Honor, I don' t.

patent and read i t I don't know how many times, and each time I'v e read it , I come up with a different thought process about what it might be that they might b e accusing. That' s why we sent

some early e-mails and letters asking, can you please identify for us, either t o help us narrow our litigation hold -- which we have a very broad one i n place now -- or to help u s with Rule 26 disclo sures. Give us something.

And what we got back was, "The website Facebook. com infringe s." And there are

ways I could read the claim that potentially could en compass every single thing on Facebook, although I think that would b e a n i nvalid patent. There 's certainly ways to read i t

overl y broadly . So in all earnest honestness -that' s not a word -- I can 't figure out what they' re accusing, and that 's the first time I'v e Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]

9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 said that i n a case. THE COURT: Mr . Andre, they don' t

know what they 're doing wrong , maybe. MS . KEEFE: I' d b e happy t o hear

from plaintiffs because that might help us re solve some o f these dates, and that' s why we serve d discovery the first day w e could, asking them to identify what the infringing product was, how , and why . MR . ANDRE: And Your Honor, even

before discovery began, we made a good faith effort t o identify the information. just the Facebook web page . I t wasn 't

We gave a very long

description of the infringing activity of Facebook , s o this was before discovery and without obligation. THE COURT: patent covers? MR . ANDRE: It is the platform I t's a way What do you think your

which their website operates on.

that -- we have two different contexts , and how you d o tracking o n i t, and how you do the various aspects the patent lays out . It is a

method o f operating that type of peer- to- peer, Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]

10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 mini- to- mini network . The claims are very clear. You

can read the claims, and this is not - - i t's not written in a lot of computer software language that makes it incomprehensible. The language is

very clear, even though it 's a very complex technology. The claims thems elves are drafted

in a way that do spell out what type o f activity will be infringing. I don 't think Facebook has any ignorance o f how their web site works. they understand how it works. I think

I f they read it,

I think they can see what is implied there. Another reason for u s t o want to conclude written discovery early , i ncluding contention interrogatories , i s s o that we can have this information out to them. specific interrogatories. exactly what they ask for. They can ask

We 'll tell them There's no reason t o

expand this for months upon months. Same with the claim construction. Claim construction will obviously help both parties. Pushing this out for two years after That' s what this is

filing i s a delay tactic.

Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]

11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 about. Claim construction i s not based on their activity. of our patent. It' s based o n intrinsic record If they get the claim

construction early, as we pro pose, get our contention interrogatories early , a s w e propose , there 's no reason why they can't , a t that time, make their motions they think are appropriate or get a fair understanding as to where they think their case is. What we' re pro posing is exactly the solution t o what they' re claiming now is the problem. They say from the very first day they

have a problem understanding what our claims are, so we told them . did i t voluntarily. We didn't have to. We

We didn' t d o i t a s part of

discovery o r part of our initial disclosures , which we 're ex changing today. W e told them in a

letter, and we also put forward in our discovery request which we pro pound on them, as well, what we believe is the relevant information with de finitions and such . So I don' t think there's

any big mystery here as to what' s being accused . As far a s their 5 ,000 Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]

12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Honor. applications, we' re not accusing third parties, those applications, of infringing a t this time. That' s not part o f this case. I think that' s

just a red herring, to hold out potential ly thousands and thousands of defendants. THE COURT: In a layman 's

understanding, what you 're saying i s that the patent covers the way their platform functions? Its foundational functionality? MR . ANDRE: That' s correct , Your

You can set up these type o f networks There are ways

in , obviously, different ways .

that make i t very efficient, make i t very user friendly. And there are ways that make i t

non-efficient and non-user friendly . And i n this particular case, our patent covers a foundation of how you can set u p these type of net works that make it very efficient and user friendly and easy to navigate through the web site . And it 's -- those claims

are laid out i n a n element -by -element basis. And, like I said, it 's not as defense counsel mentioned. claims and see how. You can read the

You can read on their

Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]

13 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 actual website itself. As far a s the dates regarding the motion to amend the pleadings and join additional parties, I think that there is a logistic disagreement as to time frame. I think

it 's unnecessary to hold those date s open . But that being said, I don 't think there will be any amendment t o the pleadings . don't think additional parties will be added . think it may b e somewhat o f a philosophical difference more than a practical difference between the parties. The only date I see that i s real ly of major significance i s the Markman hearing itself. To me , that has nothing to do with I I

whether or not they understand their own technology. What we are accusing o f infringing ,

I think that's outside that. THE COURT: MS . KEEFE: All right. Sure.

I was just going to

add, Your Honor, but I' m sorry, but that actually didn' t completely help me understand how i t applies to what we do because our net work is inextricably linked to multiple applications , Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]

14 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 how i t functions. And i f i t's that easy t o understand, what it is we' re doing that's infringing, I' d love it if they just told us . And that 's what w e'v e asked for. There 's thirty -five claims at issue in this patent, and so far there's still thirty-five claims. The information that they told Your

Honor , told us exact ly what they were accusing -- you know , the e-mail says that they 're "accusing the Facebook web site and all functionality programs and modules, both software and hardware, currently and formerly built , used , o r made available b y Face book, but is not limited to all components on the website. " understand. As far a s claim construction goes, I think the first thing you have to understand is which claims are in the case and which claims are going t o b e involve d, and that' s done through discovery, through figuring out which are actually infringed, what you are going t o b e accusing , s o that the parties don't waste time Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone] So that didn 't really help us

15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 trying t o g o down the rat hole o f claims that really aren 't involved because you haven' t had a chance t o narrow the case yet and figure it all out. So I still think that this case, at least until we see the initial interrogatory responses, could potential ly be unwieldy, and, therefore, it does require a little bit more time to figure out what 's really going on . Thank you. MR . ANDRE: Your Honor, as far a s

which claims are being served, Counsel has asked us , essentially, complete discovery before the scheduling conference. obligation to do so. claims. That' s not our W e are identifying the

We 're going to be asserting, based on

their first set o f interrogatories -- they'r e due i n twenty- some-odd, fifteen days. identify them. They 'll know them. We 'll

So they' re going to want claims. They' re going to have all the intrinsic records in front of them by March. So why they need

until March of next year t o schedule a Markman hearing is -- I don' t understand that. Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]

16 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 THE COURT: Well, this case

actually has the potential to become part of the stimulus package. I f I can get you to bill

enough against each other, what we' ll put into the economy , I could turn the whole thing around. But let me ask on a serious note . I have a sense now o f what the problem is . First thing is going to be summary judgment. alter ego i n Tennessee, Bill, who keeps statistics, says that I 'm one of the lowest summary judgment judges or something. me to Judge Ward. Compare My

I don't have anything to do The case does. There's

with summary judgment.

either summary judgment or there 's not . We do get you to trial here. I

understand some districts don 't have the time o r the energy for trial . We' ll get you t o trial. That's not

They only give us twenty percent . me . I do summary judgment.

I entertain

motions. My procedure I put i n place a little bit ago , when I heard the preliminary talks -- I was on a panel somewhere . Someone on

Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]

17 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 the panel was working o n Rule 56 . what they say. I listen to It' s,

I look at my procedure .

kind of, the bare bones of what they'r e proposing. They have a lot more de tail now that

they flushed out what they want to do, but i t's all d esigned t o make it work. dispute of fact. that. But there is a

I can 't do anything about

I give you a trial. So I heard what both of you have

to say, and I think there' s a way t o proceed that will allow us to accommodate both interests here. What I' m going d o i n the first instance

is take summary judgment because I agree with you, and Mr . Andre, you agree . do that. I really can 't

Some judges do it in the context of

claim construction, but I' m going t o take that out o f the case for now . But that' s not saying

I won 't entertain a motion . Ultimately, what I'm going to do is focus , given what 's been told to me , o n getting fact discovery completed in as efficient a way as possible , which means that in a manner that more comports to what the plaintiffs are asking for. And then get us to a Markman

Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]

18 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 hearing. Now, in that context , i f this starts t o become what you think it might, I' m not going t o b e r eluctant, and I know that Mr . Caponi will r emind me of this b y presenting this transcript, to give you an extension . MS . KEEFE: Would Your Honor also

be amenable , i f i t turns out to be one of those cases that looks like i t will grow crazily, to possibly appointing a special master? want one now. I don 't

I' m just asking i f that might be

something that you'd be amenable to . THE COURT: Sure, but first I want

to get i t t o the status of a stimulus contributor , which w e'l l see how that goes. But

on application , I will appoint a special master . Now, having said that, one thing that is a little bit of a concern, as it is in all o f these cases - - I don't know if Mr. Andre was a t that seminar or Mr. Rovner was -- some judges think you don 't have the right to tell folks that I'm not going t o allow you to assert all thirty- five claims for claim construction purposes. They think you' re entitled to that.

Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]

19 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Honor. THE COURT: November 19 th. And in this case? filed. MS . KEEFE: End o f November, Your I take the view, and I think this district does, that we can limit the claims to representative claims i n order t o get the case moving and to get it to a claim construction hearing. I' m not going to ask you t o limit those claims now, but i f that becomes part o f the issue, I think you ought to be thinking about the need to get u s t o a representative set of claims that will allow us to get the case efficiently through discovery. But at this

point , w e have thirty-five claims, and we 'll see how it goes. So what is the time for discovery Do you know when this case was

I' m going t o say that you' re going get down here and discuss getting your fact discovery completed sometime between the end of June and the end of July o f ' 09, contemplating getting your claim construction ex perts lined up in Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]

20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 August for a September or October Markman hearing. And once we get that far and add the claim construction, then we' ll set the meter for the finishing -up of patent issue e xperts and also any summary judgment applications . Now, as we get through this, as I said, it becomes apparent that that 's not going to work because o f - - w e have trouble with the contentions on the interrogatories on the issues or we have problems with the document production, then you 'll come back, and I hopefully will re consider an extension time. you'r e not foreclosed o n that . If everybody So

works together , you ought to be able t o get through that. I' ll look a t the special master once I see what kind of disputes you'r e having. Some cases I just keep myself because they'r e actually an education forum, and others I find that it' s more contention and volume, and they' re the kind of cases that g o t o special master s o you can get more frequent and immediate attention than you can with me with Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]

21 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Honor. THE COURT: What I would like to happy to try. the motion days that I have. So you think you can sit down and agree on that time? schedule. I don 't want t o dictate the

I'v e given you, basically, where you Can you sit down and

ought to finish u p.

negotiate that and submit an order? MS . KEEFE: I would certainly be

I know that I' m going t o ask on

the lower end -- longer end o f i t, but I think we could work on that. MR . ANDRE: That' s fine , Your

do is schedule , i n addition t o what you'r e going to propose, kind of, like, a ninety -day window, assuming that that first portion holds, for a trial just so we can all have that date w e'r e working to. S o i f I give an extension , ninety

days, you know the trial i s going out another ninety days. In other words, push it out . But w e should start to think about that trial date, which is good i n a patent case because it, kind of, holds all our focus. what do you think ? Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone] So

22 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 fine. THE COURT: This will become more availability. MS . KEEFE: It 's a little dicy i n I'v e got another MR . ANDRE: THE COURT: That' s fine . I don 't know your

the very beginning of 2010.

trial set i n Texas i n January , and I'v e got one in March . But if we had claim construction sometime in October, and give Your Honor a couple months to rule, we could probably be at trial within six months after that. seven months. THE COURT: So we 're look at early Six to

2010, or early in the first six months ? MS . KEEFE: I was going to say May Early May would

because of my other trials . work for me maybe , now. MR . ANDRE:

April , May.

That 's

of a firm trial date because I'm going to build in . MS . KEEFE: Mr . Caponi was just

re minding m e t o make sure I have enough time to Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]

23 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Your Honor. THE COURT: Anything is possible . Honor. THE COURT: them I would try. -- that I promised do all the experts, which means maybe June o r July. I 'm not trying t o push things out. I 'm

just trying to make sure that there 's time t o get o n people' s schedules and make sure w e have enough time after Your Honor rules, so -THE COURT: MS . KEEFE: THE COURT: little case -MS . KEEFE: A small one , Your This is a jury trial . Yes. I have this other

I t's in April of 2010, and I

told them i t had to go to trial then for a whole lot of reasons. So April 2010.

This is going to become your firm date, pretty much . So I don' t know . I don' t

have any exact time frame of that trial, but I' m going to leave open April, May, and a little bit of June. That 's the Intel . Of course , they

could settle. MS . KEEFE: Anything is possible ,

Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]

24 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 package. THE COURT: I want to be exact on Your Honor. MR . ANDRE: Curse of the economy ,

I don't think Intel will settle . MS . KEEFE: There 's your stimulus

this, so we don't have to -- your date will be June 7th of 2010. tech files. And we' ll work both of your

And are you okay with that day? MR . ANDRE: THE COURT: That' s fine . You really ought to

focus on that.

Anything that you do ought to be

with the view that June 7t h i s the trial date i n this case, of 2010. trial days for now. So we 'll set a side ten That doesn' t mean you'r e

going to get ten trial days. Okay. I think with that

information , that kind of gets u s scheduled up. I' m going t o ask you to have that order here with your negotiated dates , a greed upon dates, let's say i n two weeks. say, by March 19t h. S o that would be , let' s

You have that order here so

I can get i t i n the scheduling order. MS . KEEFE: absolutely possible. Your Honor, that' s

The only thing I might ask

Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone]

25 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Honor. Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone] Your Honor. THE COURT: by March 25 th. My parting words will b e: lose sight of June 7 th, 2010. date for you. Anything else that the plaintiff wants to pick up? MR . ANDRE: No , thank you, Your Don't The order will be here 25 th. is that you ex tend that by one week . We would

both have each other 's initial responses to the very first discovery in this case, and we might know if this i s going t o b e a problem. We might be able to come back to Your Honor and say, "This is the problem we' re having and this i s why it' s going t o b e fine ." Sorry. There' s n o problems. It 's fine, and

this is the problem, and here 's what w e think. So that might accommodate that. THE COURT: So let's make it March

I don't think that' s a problem, and

you'l l have a better idea. MS . KEEFE: I appreciate that,

I t's an important

26 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone] in recess. (Proceeding ended at 2: 35 p.m .) Your Honor. THE COURT: Thank you. W e'l l b e MS . KEEFE: Thank you very much,

27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Hawkins R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e 715 North King Street - Wilmington, Delaware 19801 [phone] FAX [phone] _ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ _ DEANNA WARNER Professional Reporter and Notary Public CERTIFICATION I, DEANNA WARNER, Professional Reporter , certify that the foregoing i s a true and accurate transcript of the foregoing proceeding . I further certify that I am neither attorney nor counsel for, nor related to nor employed by any o f the parties t o the action in which this proceeding was taken ; further , that I am not a relative or employee of any attorney o r counsel employed in this case, nor am I financially interested in this action.