`
`IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
`FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
`TYLER DIVISION
`
`SIPCO, LLC, and IP CO, LLC
`(d/b/a INTUS IQ),
`
`Plaintiffs,
`
` v.
`
` Civil Action No. 6:15-cv-907
`
`EMERSON ELECTRIC CO., EMERSON
`PROCESS MANAGEMENT LLLP, FISHER-
`ROSEMOUNT SYSTEMS, INC.,
`ROSEMOUNT INC., BP, p.l.c., BP
`AMERICA, INC., and BP AMERICA
`PRODUCTION COMPANY,
`
`Defendants.
`
`DOCKET CONTROL ORDER
`
`It is hereby ORDERED that the following schedule of deadlines is in effect until further
`order of this Court:
`
`3 DAYS after
`conclusion of Trial
`
`Parties to file Motion to Seal Trial Exhibits, if they wish to seal
`any highly confidential exhibits.
`
`EXHIBITS: See Order Regarding Exhibits below.
`9:00 a.m. JURY TRIAL before Judge Robert W. Schroeder III,
`Tyler, Texas.
`
`For planning purposes, parties shall be prepared to start the
`evidentiary phase of trial immediately following jury selection.
`
`9:00 a.m. JURY SELECTION before Judge Robert W.
`Schroeder III, Tyler, Texas.
`
`May 22, 2017
`
`To be assigned by the
`Court
`
`Court designated date –
`not flexible without
`good cause - Motion
`Required
`May 5, 2017
`
`Court designated date –
`not flexible without
`good cause - Motion
`Required
`
`Page 2 of 11
`
`
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`
`April 13, 2017
`
`Court designated date –
`not flexible without
`good cause - Motion
`Required
`April 6, 2017
`
`April 6, 2017
`
`March 30, 2017
`
`March 30, 2017
`
`March 23, 2017
`
`March 16, 2017
`
`March 16, 2017
`
`9:00 a.m. PRETRIAL CONFERENCE before Judge K. Nicole
`Mitchell, Tyler, Texas.
`
`Discuss trial logistics and voir dire procedure. Resolve any pending
`motions or objections.
`Lead trial counsel must attend the pretrial conference.
`File a Notice of Time Requested for (1) voir dire, (2) opening
`statements, (3) direct and cross examinations, and (4) closing
`arguments.
`
`File Responses to Motions in Limine.
`File Motions in Limine and pretrial objections.
`
`
`The parties are ORDERED to meet and confer to resolve any
`disputes before filing any motion in limine or objection to pretrial
`disclosures.
`File Joint Final Pretrial Order, Joint Proposed Jury Instructions
`with citation to authority and Form of the Verdict for jury trials.
`
`Parties shall use the pretrial order form on Judge Schroeder’s
`website.
`
`Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law with citation to
`authority for issues tried to the bench.
`Exchange Objections to Rebuttal Deposition Testimony.
`Notice of Request for Daily Transcript or Real Time Reporting
`of Court Proceedings due.
`
`If a daily transcript or real time reporting of court proceedings is
`requested for trial or hearings, the party or parties making said
`request shall file a notice with the Court and email the Court
`Reporter, Brenda Hightower Smith, at
`brenda_smith@txed.uscourts.gov.
`Exchange Rebuttal Designations and Objections to Deposition
`Testimony.
`
`For rebuttal designations, cross examination line and page numbers
`to be included.
`
`In video depositions, each party is responsible for preparation of the
`final edited video in accordance with their parties’ designations and
`the Court’s rulings on objections.
`
`
`
`Page 3 of 11
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`
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`
`March 16, 2017
`
`Court designated date –
`not flexible without
`good cause - Motion
`Required
`March 2, 2017
`
`January 2, 2017
`
`Court designated date –
`not flexible without
`good cause – Motion
`Required
`
`9:00 a.m. HEARING ON ANY REMAINING DISPOSITIVE
`MOTIONS (INCLUDING DAUBERT MOTIONS) before Judge
`K. Nicole Mitchell, Tyler, Texas.
`
`Exchange Pretrial Disclosures (Witness List, Deposition
`Designations, and Exhibit List) by the Party with the Burden of
`Proof.
`
`Video and Stenographic Deposition Designation due. Each party
`who proposes to offer deposition testimony shall serve a disclosure
`identifying the line and page numbers to be offered.
`Any Remaining Dispositive Motions due from all parties and
`any other motions that may require a hearing (including
`Daubert motions).
`
`Motions shall comply with Local Rule CV-56 and Local Rule CV-7.
`Motions to extend page limits will only be granted in exceptional
`circumstances. Exceptional circumstances require more than
`agreement among the parties.
`
`For each motion filed, the moving party shall provide the Court with
`one (1) copy of the completed briefing (opening motion, response,
`reply, and if applicable, surreply), excluding exhibits, in a three-ring
`binder appropriately tabbed. All documents SHALL be double-
`sided and must include the CM/ECF header. These copies shall be
`delivered to Judge Schroeder’s chambers in Texarkana as soon as
`briefing has completed.
`
`December 26, 2016
`
`December 19, 2016
`
`Respond to Amended Pleadings.
`Parties to Identify Rebuttal Trial Witnesses.
`Parties to Identify Trial Witnesses; Amend Pleadings (after
`Markman Hearing).
`
`It is not necessary to file a Motion for Leave to Amend before the
`deadline to amend pleadings. It is necessary to file a Motion for
`Leave to Amend after the deadline. However, except as provided in
`Patent Rule 3-6, if the amendment would affect infringement
`contentions or invalidity contentions, a motion must be made
`pursuant to Patent Rule 3-6 irrespective of whether the amendment
`is made prior to this deadline.
`Expert Discovery Deadline.
`
`December 12, 2016
`
`Page 4 of 11
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`
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`
`November 21, 2016
`
`November 7, 2016
`
`October 31, 2016
`
`October 31, 2016
`
`October 13, 2016
`October 10, 2016
`September 22, 2016
`
`Court designated date –
`not flexible without
`good cause – Motion
`Required
`September 8, 2016
`
`Parties designate rebuttal expert witnesses (non-construction issues),
`rebuttal expert witness reports due. Refer to Local Rules for
`required information.
`
`If, without agreement, a party serves a supplemental expert report
`after the rebuttal expert report deadline has passed, the serving party
`must file notice with the Court stating service has occurred and the
`reason why a supplemental report is necessary under the
`circumstances.
`Final Election of Asserted Prior Art.
`Parties with burden of proof designate expert witnesses (non-
`construction issues). Expert witness reports due. Refer to Local
`Rules for required information.
`Fact discovery deadline.
`
`Comply with P.R. 3-7. (Opinion of Counsel Defenses)
`Final Election of Asserted Claims.
`Markman Hearing and hearing on any Motion for Summary
`Judgment of Indefiniteness at 9:00 a.m. before Judge K. Nicole
`Mitchell, Tyler, Texas.
`
`P.R. 4-5(d) Chart due.
`
`The parties are to meet and confer and jointly submit a claim
`construction chart on computer disk in Word format listing each
`party’s proposed construction for each of the terms to be addressed
`at the Markman hearing, including any terms purported to be
`indefinite. The parties should prioritize and list the terms in order of
`most importance; the Court will address the terms in the prioritized
`order presented in the claim construction chart.
`
`
`
`Page 5 of 11
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`
`September 1, 2016
`
`August 25, 2016
`
`August 11, 2016
`
`August 11, 2016
`
`July 28, 2016
`
`
`
`Parties to file a notice with the Court stating the estimated amount of
`time requested for the Markman Hearing. The Court will notify the
`parties if it is unable to accommodate this request.
`
`Comply with P.R. 4-5(c) - Reply brief and supporting evidence
`regarding claim construction due. Plaintiff is to provide the Court
`with one (1) copy of the completed Markman briefing in its entirety
`(opening brief, response, and reply) and exhibits in a three-ring
`binder appropriately tabbed. All documents SHALL be double-
`sided and must include the CM/ECF header. These copies shall be
`delivered to Judge Schroeder’s chambers in Texarkana as soon as
`briefing has completed.
`
`If a technical advisor has been appointed the moving party is to
`provide their Markman brief on disk or CD along with a hard copy,
`tabbed and bound with exhibits to the advisor.
`Comply with P.R. 4-5(b) - Responsive claim construction brief and
`supporting evidence due.
`Comply with P.R. 4-5(a) - The party claiming patent infringement
`shall serve and file an opening brief and any evidence supporting its
`claim construction.
`
`Briefing shall comply with Local Rules CV-7 and 56 and Patent
`Rule 4-5(e). Motions to extend page limits will only be granted in
`exceptional circumstances. Exceptional circumstances require more
`than joint agreement among the parties.
`
`Tutorials due. Deadline for parties, if they desire, to provide Court
`with tutorials concerning technology involved in patent(s). The
`parties shall submit one (1) copy of their tutorials to the Court. If a
`technical advisor has been appointed, each party that provides a
`tutorial shall provide a copy to the advisor.
`
`Preliminary Election of Asserted Prior Art.
`Proposed Technical Advisors due if one has not already been
`appointed. Parties to provide name, address, phone number, and
`curriculum vitae for up to three agreed technical advisors and
`information regarding the nominees’ availability for Markman
`hearing or a statement that an agreement could not be reached. If the
`parties cannot agree on a technical advisor, they shall not submit any
`proposed technical advisors to the Court. If the parties feel a
`technical advisor is unnecessary, they shall alert the Court at this
`time.
`Discovery Deadline - Claim Construction Issues.
`
`Preliminary Election of Asserted Claims.
`
`Page 6 of 11
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`
`July 21, 2016
`
`July 7, 2016
`
`July 7, 2016
`
`June 24, 2016
`
`June 3, 2016
`
`May 16, 2016
`
`February 29, 2016
`
`Respond to Amended Pleadings.
`Amended Pleadings (pre-claim construction) due from all
`parties, including inequitable conduct allegations.
`
`It is not necessary to file a Motion for Leave to Amend before the
`deadline to amend pleadings. It is necessary to file a Motion for
`Leave to Amend after the deadline. However, if the amendment
`would affect infringement contentions or invalidity contentions, a
`motion must be made pursuant to Patent Rule 3-6(b) irrespective of
`whether the amendment is made prior to this deadline.
`Comply with P.R. 4-3 - Filing of Joint Claim Construction and
`Prehearing Statement.
`
`In the P.R. 4-3 filing, the parties shall list the most significant terms
`according to the parties’ priorities, which were agreed upon during
`the P.R. 4-2 meet and confer, indicating which of those terms will be
`case or claim dispositive. A maximum of 10 terms will be
`construed, unless parties have received other instruction from the
`Court. If the parties cannot agree to the most important 10 terms,
`the parties shall identify the terms that were agreed upon and then
`divide the remainder evenly between Plaintiff(s) and Defendant(s).
`
`The nonmoving party subject to an indefiniteness challenge must
`provide a preliminary identification of any expert testimony it
`intends to rely on in its response to the moving party’s indefiniteness
`challenge. The nonmoving party shall also provide a brief
`description of that witness’ proposed testimony.
`Comply with P.R. 4-2 - Exchange of Preliminary Claim
`Constructions and Extrinsic Evidence. Privilege Logs to be
`exchanged by parties (or a letter to the Court stating that there are no
`disputes as to claims of privileged documents).
`Comply with P.R. 4-1 - Exchange Proposed Terms and Claim
`Elements for Construction.
`Comply with P.R. 3-3 and 3-4 - Invalidity Contentions due.
`Thereafter, except as provided in Patent Rule 3-6(a), it is necessary
`to obtain leave of Court to add and/or amend invalidity contentions,
`pursuant to Patent Rule 3-6(b).
`
`Defendant shall assert any counterclaims. After this deadline, leave
`of Court must be obtained to assert any counterclaims.
`Defendant shall join additional parties. It is not necessary to file a
`motion to join additional parties prior to this date. Thereafter, it is
`necessary to obtain leave of Court to join additional parties.
`
`
`
`Page 7 of 11
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`
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`
`February 25, 2016
`
`File Notice of Mediator
`
`Parties are encouraged, but not required, to mediate cases. The
`parties need not include a deadline for mediation unless they have
`agreed to do so. The parties may jointly file a notice that identifies
`an agreed upon mediator (with a proposed order appointing the
`mediator) or indicates that no agreement was reached. If the parties
`do not reach an agreement, the Court will appoint a mediator if
`requested. The parties shall confirm the mediator’s availability.
`Comply with P.R. 3-1 and P.R. 3-2 - Disclosure of Asserted Claims
`and Infringement Contentions due. Thereafter, except as provided in
`Patent Rule 3-6(a), it is necessary to obtain leave of Court to add
`and/or amend infringement contentions, pursuant to Patent Rule 3-
`6(b).
`
`Plaintiff shall join additional parties. It is not necessary to file a
`motion to join additional parties prior to this date. Thereafter, it is
`necessary to obtain leave of Court to join additional parties.
`
`Plaintiff shall add new patents and/or claims for patents-in-suit. It is
`not necessary to file a motion to add additional patents or claims
`prior to this date. Thereafter, it is necessary to obtain leave of Court
`to add patents or claims.
`EXPECTED LENGTH OF TRIAL
`
`February 29, 2016
`
`Length of trial to be
`determined closer to
`time of trial
`
`In the event that any of these dates fall on a weekend or Court holiday, the deadline is
`modified to be the next Court business day.
`
`The parties are directed to Local Rule CV-7(d), which provides in part that “[i]n the event
`a party fails to oppose a motion in the manner prescribed herein the Court will assume that the
`party has no opposition.”
`
`Other Limitations
`
`(a)
`
`The following excuses will not warrant a continuance or justify a failure to comply
`with the discovery deadline:
`(i) The fact that there are motions for summary judgment or motions to dismiss
`pending;
`
`Page 8 of 11
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`
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`
`(b)
`
`(c)
`
`(ii) The fact that one or more of the attorneys is set for trial in another court on the
`same day, unless the other setting was made prior to the date of this order or
`was made as a special provision for the parties in the other case;
`(iii) The failure to complete discovery prior to trial, unless the parties can
`demonstrate that it was impossible to complete discovery despite their good
`faith effort to do so.
`Amendments to the Docket Control Order (“DCO”): Any motion to alter any date on
`the DCO shall take the form of a motion to amend the DCO. The motion shall
`include a chart in the format of the DCO that lists all of the remaining dates in one
`column (as above) and the proposed changes to each date in an additional adjacent
`column (if there is no change for a date the proposed date column should remain
`blank or indicate that it is unchanged). The motion to amend the DCO shall also
`include a proposed DCO in traditional two-column format that incorporates the
`requested changes and that also lists all remaining dates. In other words, the DCO in
`the proposed order should be complete such that one can clearly see all the remaining
`deadlines rather than needing to also refer to an earlier version of the DCO.
`Indefiniteness: In lieu of early motions for summary judgment, the parties are
`directed to include any arguments related to the issue of indefiniteness in their
`Markman briefing, subject to the local rules’ normal page limits.
`(d) Motions in Limine: Each side is limited to one (1) motion in limine addressing no
`more than ten (10) disputed issues. In addition, the parties may file a joint motion in
`limine addressing any agreed issues. The Court views motions in limine as
`appropriate for those things that will create a proverbial “skunk in the jury box,” e.g.,
`that, if mentioned in front of the jury before an evidentiary ruling can be made, would
`be so prejudicial that the Court could not alleviate the prejudice with an appropriate
`instruction. Rulings on motions in limine do not exclude evidence, but prohibit the
`party from offering the disputed testimony prior to obtaining an evidentiary ruling
`during trial.
`Exhibits: Each side is limited to designating 250 exhibits for trial absent a showing of
`good cause. The parties shall use the exhibit list sample form on Judge Schroeder’s
`website.
`Deposition Designations: Each side is limited to designating no more than ten (10)
`hours of deposition testimony for use at trial absent a showing of good cause. As trial
`approaches, if either side needs to designate more than ten (10) hours, the party may
`file a motion for leave and show good cause. All depositions to be read into evidence
`as part of the parties’ case-in-chief shall be EDITED so as to exclude all unnecessary,
`repetitious, and irrelevant testimony; ONLY those portions which are relevant to the
`issues in controversy shall be read into evidence.
`(g) Witness Lists: The parties shall use the sample form on Judge Schroeder’s website.
`
`(e)
`
`(f)
`
`ORDER REGARDING EXHIBITS, EXHIBIT LISTS AND WITNESS LISTS:
`
`Page 9 of 11
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`
`A.
`
`On the first day of trial, each party is required to have:
`
`B.
`
`C.
`
`D.
`
`E.
`
`(1)
`
`(2)
`(3)
`
`One copy of their respective original exhibits on hand. Each exhibit shall be
`properly labeled with the following information: Identified as either Plaintiff’s or
`Defendant’s Exhibit, the Exhibit Number and the Case Number.
`Three hard copies of each party’s exhibit list and witness list on hand.
`One copy of all exhibits on USB Flash Drive(s) or portable hard drive(s). This
`shall be tendered to the Courtroom Deputy at the beginning of trial.
`
`The parties shall follow the process below to admit exhibits.
`(1) On the first day of trial, each party shall tender an “offered” list of exhibits it plans to
`admit into evidence that day which are NOT objected to, and read that list into the
`record. Parties shall entitle the list “[Plaintiff’s/Defendant’s] Exhibits Offered on
`[DATE].” If, during the course of the day’s testimony, a party wishes to offer an
`objected exhibit into evidence, the party may move for admission at the time it wishes
`to use that exhibit with a witness. The Court will then hear the opposing party’s
`objection and will rule on the objection at that time.
`(2) On each subsequent day of trial, parties shall first read into the record any exhibits
`that were admitted over objection from the previous day. The parties shall next
`tender an “offered” list of any additional exhibits NOT objected to that it plans to
`admit that day, and read that list into the record. The list shall be entitled
`“[Plaintiff’s/Defendant’s] Exhibits Offered on [DATE].” Finally, the parties shall
`tender a separate running list of all previously admitted exhibits throughout the course
`of trial entitled “[Plaintiff’s/Defendant’s] Exhibits Previously Admitted through
`[DATE of the most recently completed trial day].”
`(3) At the conclusion of evidence, each party shall read any exhibit that was admitted
`over objection that day into the record and then tender its final list of every admitted
`exhibit, entitled “[Plaintiff’s/Defendant’s] Final List of All Admitted Exhibits.”
`
`At the conclusion of evidence, each party shall be responsible for pulling those exhibits
`admitted at trial, whether used or not, and tender those to the Courtroom Deputy, who
`will verify the exhibits and tender them to the jury for their deliberations. One
`representative from each side shall meet with the Courtroom Deputy to verify the exhibit
`list.
`
`At the conclusion of trial, all boxes of exhibits shall be returned to the respective parties
`and the parties are instructed to remove these exhibits from the courtroom.
`
`Within five business days of the conclusion of trial, each party shall submit to the
`Courtroom Deputy:
`
`(1)
`(2)
`
`A Final Exhibit List of Exhibits Admitted During Trial in Word format.
`CD(s) containing admitted unsealed trial exhibits in PDF format. If the Court
`ordered any exhibits sealed during trial, the Sealed Exhibits shall be submitted on
`a separate CD. If tangible or over-sized exhibits were admitted, such exhibits
`shall be substituted with a photograph in PDF format.
`
`Page 10 of 11
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`(3)
`
`A disk containing the transcripts of Video Depositions played during trial, along
`with a copy of the actual video deposition.
`
`Page 11 of 11
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`So ORDERED and SIGNED this
`Apr 7, 2016
`
`