Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_19-cv-00517/USCOURTS-cand-3_19-cv-00517-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 830
Nature of Suit: Patent
Cause of Action: 35:271 Patent Infringement

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United States District Court 

Northern District of California 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 

IN RE: RAH COLOR TECHNOLOGIES 

LLC PATENT LITIGATION

This Order Relates to:

ALL CASES

Case No. 18-md-02874-SI 

MDL No. 2874

PRETRIAL ORDER #1

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) has transferred to this Court for 

coordinated pretrial proceedings certain patent actions relating to the alleged infringement, validity, 

and enforceability of nine related patents owned by RAH in the field of color management 

technology, which is used in products such as print servers, printers, and color imaging software. 

As the number and complexity of these actions warrant holding a single, coordinated initial status 

conference for all actions in In Re: RAH Color Technologies LLC Patent Litigation, MDL No. 2874, 

the Court ORDERS as follows: 

1. APPLICABILITY OF ORDER: Prior to the initial conference and entry of a 

comprehensive order governing all further proceedings in this case, the provisions of this Order 

shall govern the practice and procedure in those actions that were transferred to this Court by the 

JPML. This Order also applies to all related actions filed in all divisions of the Northern District of 

California and all “tag-along actions” later filed in, removed to, or transferred to this Court.

2. COORDINATION: The civil actions transferred to this Court or related to the actions 

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already pending before this Court are coordinated for pretrial purposes only. Any “tag-along 

actions” later filed in, removed to, or transferred to this Court, or directly filed in the Northern 

District of California, will automatically be related to this action without the necessity of future 

motions or orders. This coordination does not constitute a determination that the actions should be 

consolidated for trial, nor does it have the effect of making any entity a party to any action in which 

he, she or it has not been named, served or added in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil 

Procedure. To facilitate the efficient coordination of cases in this matter, all parties to this action 

shall notify the Panel of other potential related or “tag-along” actions of which they are aware or 

become aware. 

3. DATE OF INITIAL STATUS CONFERENCE: Matters relating to pretrial and 

discovery proceedings in these cases will be addressed at an initial status conference to be held on 

Tuesday, January 15, 2019, at 2:00 p.m. before Judge Susan Illston in Courtroom 1, 17th Floor, 

United States Courthouse, 450 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, California. Counsel are 

expected to familiarize themselves with the Manual for Complex Litigation, Fourth (“MCL 4th”) 

and be prepared at the conference to suggest procedures that will facilitate the expeditious, 

economical and just resolution of this litigation. If the parties have any suggestions as to any case 

management orders or agenda items for the initial status conference, these suggestions shall be filed 

with the Court by January 8, 2019. 

By January 8, 2019, the parties shall file a joint written submission advising the Court as to 

the status of all litigation pending in this MDL matter, as well as the status of all potential tag-along 

cases. The submission shall also advise the Court of the steps the parties have taken to preserve 

relevant evidence, including electronically stored information. Counsel shall be prepared at the 

initial conference to answer questions from the Court regarding the written submission, litigation 

status and evidence preservation. 

The submission shall also contain a brief written statement indicating the parties’ 

preliminary understanding of the facts involved in the litigation and the critical factual and legal 

issues. These statements will not be binding, will not waive claims or defenses, and may not be 

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offered in evidence against a party in later proceedings. The parties’ statements shall identify all 

cases that have been transferred to or related before this Court, and shall identify all pending motions 

in those cases. The statement shall also list all related cases pending in state or federal court (that 

have not already been transferred to this Court), together with their current status, including any 

discovery taken to date, to the extent known. 

4. INITIAL CONFERENCE APPEARANCES: Each party shall appear at the initial 

status conference through the party’s attorney who will have primary responsibility for the party’s 

interest in this litigation. Counsel other than the attorney who will have primary responsibility for 

a party’s interest in this litigation may listen to the initial conference by phone. To request a 

telephone appearance, counsel shall contact the Courtroom Clerk, Tracy Kasamoto, at (415) 522-

2028 no later than January 8, 2019. A party will not by designating an attorney to represent the 

party’s interest at the conference be precluded from other representation during the litigation, nor 

will attendance at the conference waive objections to jurisdiction, venue or service. 

5. RESPONSE EXTENSION AND STAY: Defendants are granted an extension of 

time for responding by motion or answer to the complaint(s) until a date to be set by this Court. 

Pending the initial case management conference and further orders of this Court, all outstanding 

discovery proceedings are stayed, and no further discovery shall be initiated. Moreover, all pending 

motions must be re-noticed for resolution once the Court sets a schedule for any such motions. Any 

orders, including protective orders, previously entered by any transferor district court shall remain 

in full force and effect unless modified by this Court upon application. 

6. MASTER DOCKET FILE: The Clerk of the Court will maintain a master docket 

case file under the style “In Re: RAH Color Technologies LLC Patent Litigation,” No. M 18-2874-

SI, and the identification of “MDL No. 2874.” When a pleading is intended to apply to all actions, 

this shall be indicated by the words: “This Document Relates to All Cases.” When a pleading is 

intended to apply to fewer than all cases, this Court’s docket number of each individual case to 

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which the document relates shall appear immediately after the words “This Document Relates to.”

7. FILING: Each attorney of record is obligated to become a Northern District of 

California ECF User and be assigned a user ID and password for access to the system. If she or he 

has not already done so, counsel shall register forthwith as an ECF User and be issued an ECF User 

ID and password. Forms and instructions can be found on the Court’s website at

www.cand.uscourts.gov/cm-ecf. Registration instructions for pro se parties who wish to e-file can 

be found on the Court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov/ECF/proseregistration.

All documents shall be e-filed in the master file, No. 18-md-2874-SI. Documents that 

pertain to one or only some of the pending actions shall also be e-filed in the individual case(s) to 

which the documents pertain. 

8. DOCKETING NEW CASES: When an action that properly belongs as part of In Re: 

RAH Color Technologies LLC Patent Litigation is filed after the date of this Order in the Northern 

District of California or transferred here from another court, the Clerk of this Court shall: 

a. File a copy of this Order in the separate file for such action; 

b. Make an appropriate entry on the master docket sheet; 

c. Mail to the attorneys for the plaintiff in the newly filed or transferred case a copy of 

this Order; and 

d. Upon the first appearance of any new defendant, mail to the attorneys for the 

defendant in such newly filed or transferred cases a copy of this Order. 

9. APPEARANCES: Counsel who are not admitted to practice before the Northern 

District of California must file an application to be admitted pro hac vice. See N.D. Cal. Civ. L.R. 

11-3. The requirement that pro hac vice counsel retain local counsel, see N.D. Cal. Civ. L.R. 11- 

3(a)(3), 11-3(e), is waived and does not apply to this MDL action. 

10. PRESERVATION OF EVIDENCE: All parties and counsel are reminded of their 

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duty to preserve evidence that may be relevant to this action, including electronically stored 

information. Any evidence preservation order previously entered in any of the transferred actions 

shall remain in full force and effect until further order of the Court. Until the parties reach an 

agreement on a preservation plan for all cases or the Court orders otherwise, each party shall take 

reasonable steps to preserve all evidence that may be relevant to this litigation. Counsel, as officers 

of the court, are obligated to exercise all reasonable efforts to identify and notify parties and 

nonparties, including employees of corporate or institutional parties, of their preservation 

obligations. 

11. FILING OF DISCOVERY REQUESTS: In accordance with Rule 5(d) of the Federal 

Rules of Civil Procedure, discovery requests and responses are not to be filed with the Clerk nor 

sent to the Judge’s Chambers, except to the extent needed in connection with a motion.

12: LIAISON COUNSEL: Prior to the initial status conference, counsel for all parties 

shall, to the extent they have not already done so, confer regarding whether this case would benefit 

from the selection of a candidate for the position of liaison counsel who will be charged with 

essentially administrative matters and, if so, who that candidate should be and what the duties should 

be. 

13. DISCOVERY AND PROTECTIVE ORDER: Counsel should be prepared to discuss 

mechanisms for coordinating discovery efforts. Counsel shall also be prepared to discuss a 

stipulated protective order and, if possible, present one to the Court for its consideration. In the 

event a stipulation cannot be reached, the Court will execute a protective order generally in the form 

to the Northern District of California’s model stipulated protective order unless/until the parties 

present the Court with a joint submission. 

 

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14. COMMUNICATION WITH THE COURT 

Unless otherwise ordered by this Court, all substantive communications with the Court shall 

be in writing and e-filed. The Court recognizes that cooperation by and among counsel for all parties 

is essential for the orderly and expeditious resolution of this litigation. The communication of 

information among and between plaintiffs’ counsel and among and between defendants’ counsel 

shall not be deemed a waiver of the attorney-client privilege or the protection afforded attorneys’ 

work product, and cooperative efforts contemplated above shall in no way be used against any 

plaintiff by any defendant or against any defendant by any plaintiff. Nothing contained in this 

provision shall be construed to limit the rights of any party or counsel to assert the attorney-client 

privilege or attorney work product doctrine. 

IT IS SO ORDERED. 

Dated: December 14, 2018 

______________________________________ 

SUSAN ILLSTON 

United States District Judge 

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