How We Schedule Progress of Your Case

You have a patent infringement litigation. I’m Rich Beem. I’m a patent attorney in Chicago. After we prepare a case management plan and a budget, and after the pleadings are set, the complaint is filed, there’s an answer with affirmative defenses and counterclaims, what happens next? Well, the next big thing is the scheduling conference - that occurs between counsel. And it’s important to know that going into that scheduling conference what we want to accomplish. What kind of discovery do we want? What kind of discovery do we want to provide? How many documents do we have? How many documents do we think the other side has? How much electronically stored information (or ESI) do we have and in what form are we comfortable producing it, even under a protective order? How much ESI does the other side have and in what form do we want to receive it from them? Do we want it in native form? Or would it satisfy us to have it in PDF format? These are the things that need to be thought about in a scheduling conference and put into the scheduling order. How fast do we want the case to go? How soon do we expect to be ready for trial? Those are things that go into a scheduling order. And then next is discovery. There are several forms of discovery. There are written requests for discovery, including requests for documents and electronically stored information. There are interrogatories, where we ask questions, in order to obtain information from the other party where they officially state their position in a verified form. And there are requests for admissions that can simplify the case. We use all of those forms of written discovery in order to obtain the information that we will need for trial. Now, associated with discovery in a patent case, it’s very common for there to be discovery disputes. What is the scope of discovery? How many documents should we get? What should those documents include? What kind of electronically stored information should we get? Should we get all of the emails? Should we get correspondence with customers? Those are the kind of things that get involved in discovery disputes. And when necessary, we file motions with the court. And if the other side is asking for too much we can tell them that we are not going to provide the discovery, we can either move for a protective order or let them move to compel the discovery and respond to their motion. We are located across the street from the Chicago federal courthouse where we are in court month in and month out, handling patent infringement cases – including the motion practice. It’s very convenient for us to be there and we’re used to being there. Chicago happens to be one of the leading jurisdictions in the country for patent infringement cases. We also handle those kinds of cases in other courts in the country, acting with local counsel. Why do I tell you these things? Because when you’re responsible for a patent infringement case for your company, it’s an important case, it’s important to the business to your company. And you need to know, you need to have a blueprint of where that case is going. That’s what we do; we do patent infringement litigation, day in and day out. When you have a patent infringement case, call us. 312-201-0011. Thank you.