Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-5_07-cv-01328/USCOURTS-cand-5_07-cv-01328-4/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 830
Nature of Suit: Patent
Cause of Action: 35:145 Patent Infringement

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United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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1

 Serious acknowledges that it is necessary for it to obtain leave of the court to file a motion for

sanctions when a party seeks to file the motion more than 14 days after entry of judgment. See, e.g.

N.D. Cal. L.R. 7-8(d) ("Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, no motion for sanctions may be

served and filed more than 14 days after entry of judgment by the District Court.").

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO SHORTEN TIME AND GRANTING MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE MOTION FOR

SANCTIONS — No. C-07-01328 RMW

MAG

United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

E-FILED on 1/10/08

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

SAN JOSE DIVISION

SERIOUS MATERIALS, LLC,

Plaintiff,

v.

SUPRESS PRODUCTS, LLC,

Defendant.

No. C-07-01328 RMW

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO

SHORTEN TIME AND GRANTING

MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE MOTION

FOR SANCTIONS

[Re Docket No. 56, 59]

Plaintiff Serious Materials, LLC ("Serious") moves to shorten time on its motion for leave to

seek Rule 11 sanctions against defendant Supress Products, LLC ("Supress").1

 Serious seeks to have

its motion for leave to file sanctions (which was filed on January 4, 2008), heard on Friday, January

11, 2008. Supress opposes the motion to shorten time. The court deems the motion appropriate for

submission on the papers. See Civ. L.R. 7-1(b).

Case 5:07-cv-01328-RMW Document 81 Filed 01/10/08 Page 1 of 3
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO SHORTEN TIME AND GRANTING MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE MOTION FOR

SANCTIONS — No. C-07-01328 RMW

MAG 2

Following the parties' settlement and dismissal with prejudice of Serious' claims in this

patent case and dismissal without prejudice of Supress' counterclaims for declaratory relief, see

Docket No. 33, Supress filed a motion for an exceptional case determination and for attorney's fees

and costs on December 10, 2007 ("attorney's fees motion"). Originally set for hearing for January

18, 2008, the hearing has been continued to February 15, 2008.

Serious has filed a motion seeking leave to file for Rule 11 sanctions against Supress,

contending that the attorney's fees motion is frivolous. It seeks to have its motion for leave heard on

shortened time so that it may file a motion for Rule 11 sanctions so as to have the sanctions motion

heard on the same date as Supress' attorney's fees motion. Although Supress apparently does not

intend to oppose Serious' motion seeking leave to file for Rule 11 sanctions, it nonetheless argues

that the court should not grant leave to file until the motion for attorney's fees is heard. 

As set forth above, Serious contends that Supress' motion for attorney's fees is frivolous and

untimely. It seeks to have the motion for sanctions heard on the same date as the motion for

attorney's fees, asserting that because the issues are closely related a combined hearing would

promote judicial economy and permit litigation to come to a more expeditious conclusion. Supress,

on the other hand, contends that if the court determines that this case qualifies as an exceptional

case, the motion for sanctions will be moot and the parties would have briefed the sanctions motion

for nothing, resulting in additional and unnecessary litigation costs. 

Since Supress' motion for attorneys' fees has been moved to February 15, 2008, Serious will

have the normal time in which to file an opposition to Supress' motion. Further, hearing both

motions on the same date will not burden the parties because the underlying factual issues overlap

and will save the parties from any prejudice of having to make two court appearances.

Accordingly, the motion to shorten time is granted and the motion for leave to file for Rule

11 sanctions is granted. Both the motion for attorneys' fees and the motion for sanctions will be

heard on February 15, 2008.

DATED: 1/10/08

RONALD M. WHYTE

United States District Judge

Case 5:07-cv-01328-RMW Document 81 Filed 01/10/08 Page 2 of 3
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO SHORTEN TIME AND GRANTING MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE MOTION FOR

SANCTIONS — No. C-07-01328 RMW

MAG 3

Notice of this document has been electronically sent to:

Counsel for Plaintiff:

John L. Cooper jcooper@fbm.com

Jeffrey M. Fisher jfisher@fbm.com

June Tsu-Ain Tai jtai@fbm.com

Counsel for Defendants:

Jonah Dylan Mitchell jmitchell@reedsmith.com

Morgan William Tovey mtovey@reedsmith.com

Counsel are responsible for distributing copies of this document to co-counsel that have not

registered for e-filing under the court's CM/ECF program.

Dated: 1/10/08 TSF

Chambers of Judge Whyte

Case 5:07-cv-01328-RMW Document 81 Filed 01/10/08 Page 3 of 3