UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

Western District of Texas

WACO DIVISION

WSOU INVESTMENTS LLC

vs.

MICROSOFT CORPORATION

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NO: WA:20-CV-00463-ADA

ORDER GOVERNING PROCEEDINGS – PATENT CASE

This Order shall govern proceedings in this case. The following deadlines are hereby set:

This case is SET for a telephonic Rule 16 Case Management Conference on Friday,

September 18, 2020 at 1:30 p.m. Participants shall dial into the following number 5

minutes before the scheduled time: 866.434.5269; access code 967-8090. Lead counsel

for each party, and all unrepresented parties, shall be present. Client representatives are

welcome to attend, but such attendance is not required. In person attendance is

permitted, but not required. Anyone planning to attend in person should so inform the

Court by contacting chambers not later than two court days before the scheduled hearing

so the Court can evaluate whether to hold the conference in the courtroom, or in

chambers. The Court expects the parties to be prepared to discuss:

a. an overview of the claims and defenses, including any unique issues the

parties believe should be addressed at this stage of the case;

b. issues involving the case schedule and potential amendments to the

Court’s default scheduling order, including the date for the Markman

Hearing;

c. issues relating to claim construction, including whether a live tutorial would be

of benefit to the Court;

d. issues relating to discovery, including potential amendments to the Court’s

default discovery limits or Protective Order; and,

e. any other issues the parties believe would lead to the just, speedy and

inexpensive determination of this action.

2. (Not later than 7 days before the CMC). Plaintiff shall serve preliminary infringement

 contentions in the form of a chart setting forth where in the accused product(s) each element

 of the asserted claims(s) are found. Plaintiff shall also identify the priority date (i.c.

1

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the earliest date of invention) for each asserted claim and produce: (1) all documents 

 evidencing conception and reduction to practice for each claimed invention, and (2) a copy

 of the file history for each patent in suit.

3. (Not later than 3 business days before the CMC). Lead counsel for each party shall meet and 

 confer (either in person or by telephone), to discuss whether they believe the Court’s default

 Scheduling Order and default Discovery Limits are appropriate for this case, and any issues

 relating to the management of this case they intend to raise at the CMC.

4. (Two weeks after the CMC). The Parties shall submit an agreed Scheduling Order. If the

 parties cannot agree, the parties shall submit a separate Joint Motion for entry of each Order

 briefly setting forth their respective positions on items where they cannot agree. Absent

 agreement of the parties, the Plaintiff shall be responsible for the timely submission of this

 and other Joint filings.

5. (Two weeks after the CMC). Deadline for Motions to Transfer. The Court also adopts the

 following page limits and briefing schedule for Motions to Transfer:

 a. Opening – 15 pages

 b. Response – 15 pages, due 14 days after the Opening brief

 c. Reply – 5 pages, due 7 days after the Response brief

6. (Seven weeks after the CMC). Defendant shall serve preliminary invalidity contentions in the

 form of (1) a chart setting forth where in the prior art references each element of the asserted

 claim(s) are found, (2) an identification of any limitations the Defendant contends are

 indefinite or lack written description under section 112, and (3) an identification of any

 claims the Defendant contends are directed to ineligible subject matter under section 101.

 Defendant shall also produce (1) all prior art referenced in the invalidity contentions, (2)

 technical documents, including software where applicable, sufficient to show the operation 

 of the accused product(s), and (3) summary, annual sales information for the accused 

 product(s) for the two years preceding the filing of the Complaint,1 unless the parties agree to

 some other timeframe.

DISCOVERY 

Except with regard to venue, jurisdictional, and claim construction-related discovery, all other

discovery is stayed until after the Markman hearing. Notwithstanding this general stay of discovery,

the Court will permit limited discovery by agreement of the parties, or upon request, where

exceptional circumstances warrant. For example, if discovery outside the United States is

contemplated, the Court will be inclined to allow such discovery to commence before the Markman

hearing.

1 With regard to expired patents, the sales information shall be provided for the two years preceding expiration.

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With respect to venue and jurisdictional discovery, the Court generally grants leave for the parties to

conduct targeted discovery (including, but not limited to requests for production, interrogatories, and

depositions) with regard to motions to transfer venue or motions to dismiss based on lack of

jurisdiction. If the parties disagree as to what reasonable discovery limits are, the Court encourages

the parties to contact the Court to request a telephonic discovery hearing.

Following the Markman hearing, the following discovery limits will apply to this case. The Court

will consider reasonable requests to adjust these limits should circumstances warrant.

 1. Interrogatories: 30 per side2

 2. Requests for Admission: 45 per side

 3. Requests for Production: 75 per side

 4. Fact Depositions: 70 hours per side (for both party and non-party witnesses combined)

 5. Expert Depositions: 7 hours per report3 

Electronically Stored Information. As a preliminary matter, the Court will not require general

search and production of email or other electronically stored information (ESI), absent a showing of

good cause. If a party believes targeted email/ESI discovery is necessary, it shall propose a procedure

identifying custodians and search terms it believes the opposing party should search. The opposing

party can oppose, or propose an alternate plan. If the parties cannot agree, they shall contact

chambers to schedule a call with the Court to discuss their respective positions.

DISCOVERY DISPUTES 

A party may not file a Motion to Compel discovery unless: (1) lead counsel have met and conferred

in good faith to try to resolve the dispute, and (2) the party has contacted the Court’s law clerk (with

opposing counsel) to arrange a telephone conference with the Court to summarize the dispute and the

parties respective positions. After hearing from the parties, the Court will determine if further

briefing is required.

PROTECTIVE ORDER 

Pending entry of the final Protective Order, the Court issues the following interim Protective Order

to govern the disclosure of confidential information in this matter:

 If any document or information produced in this matter is deemed confidential by the 

 producing party and if the Court has not entered a protective order, until a protective 

 order is issued by the Court, the document shall be marked “confidential” or with some

2 A “side” shall mean the plaintiff (or related plaintiffs suing together) on the one hand, and the defendant (or

related defendants sued together) on the other hand. In the event that the Court consolidates related cases for

pretrial purposes, with regard to calculating limits imposed by this Order, a “side” shall be interpreted as if the

cases were proceeding individually. For example, in consolidated cases the plaintiff may serve up to 30

interrogatories on each defendant, and each defendant may serve up to 30 interrogatories on the plaintiff.

3 For example, if a single technical expert submits reports on both infringement and invalidity, he or she may be

deposed for up to 14 hours in total.

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other confidential designation (such as “Confidential – Outside Attorneys Eyes

Only”) by the disclosing party and disclosure of the confidential document or

information shall be limited to each party’s outside attorney(s) of record and the

employees of such outside attorney(s).

If a party is not represented by an outside attorney, disclosure of the confidential

document or information shall be limited to one designated “in house” attorney, whose

identity and job functions shall be disclosed to the producing party 5 days prior to any

such disclosure, in order to permit any motion for protective order or other relief

regarding such disclosure. The person(s) to whom disclosure of a confidential

document or information is made under this local rule shall keep it confidential and

use it only for purposes of litigating the case.

CLAIM CONSTRUCTION ISSUES

Terms for Construction. Based on the Court’s experience, the Court believes that it should

have presumed limits on the number of claim terms to be construed. The “presumed limit” is

the maximum number of terms that the parties may request the Court to construe without

further leave of Court. If the Court grants leave for the additional terms to be construed,

depending on the complexity and number of terms, the Court may split the Markman hearing

into two hearings.

The presumed limits based on the number of patents-in-suit are as follows:

Limits for Number of Claim Terms to be Construed

1-2 Patents 3-5 Patents More than 5 Patents

10 terms 12 terms 15 terms

When the parties submit their joint claim construction statement, in addition to the term and

the parties’ proposed constructions, the parties should indicate which party or side proposed

that term, or if that was a joint proposal.

Claim Construction Briefing. The Court will require simultaneous claim construction

briefing with the following default page limits; however, where exceptional circumstances

warrant, the Court will consider reasonable requests to adjust these limits. These page limits

shall also apply collectively for consolidated cases; however, the Court will consider

reasonable requests to adjust page limits in consolidated cases where circumstances warrant.

In addition, the Court is very familiar with the law of claim construction and encourages the

parties to forego lengthy recitations of the underlying legal authorities and instead focus on the

substantive issues unique to each case.

Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, all simultaneous filings will take place at 5:00 p.m. CT.

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Page Limits for Markman Briefs

Brief 1-2 Patents 3-5 Patents More than 5 Patents

Opening 20 pages 30 pages 30 pages, plus 5

additional pages for

each patent over 5 up

to a maximum of 45

pages

Response 20 pages 30 pages 30 pages, plus 5

additional pages for

each patent over 5 up

to a maximum of 45

pages

Reply 10 pages 15 pages 15 pages, plus 2

additional pages for

each patent over 5 up

to a maximum of 21

pages

Conduct of the Markman Hearing.

The Court generally sets aside one half day for the Markman hearing; however, the Court is

open to reserving more or less time, depending on the complexity of the case and input from

the parties. The Court requires submission of technology tutorials in advance of the Markman

hearing when they may be of benefit. The parties may submit tutorials in electronic form not

later than one week before the Markman hearing and the Court encourages the parties to aim

for tutorials with voiceovers in the 15 minute range. If a party intends to present a live tutorial,

the parties should contact the Court to set-up a Zoom or telephonic tutorial to occur at least a

week before the Markman hearing. In general, tutorials should be: (1) directed to the

underlying technology (rather than argument related to infringement or validity), and (2)

limited to 15 minutes per side. For the Court’s convenience, the tutorial may be recorded, but

will not be part of the record. Parties may not rely on or cite to the tutorial in other aspects of the

litigation.

The Court will consider the parties suggestions on the order of argument at the Markman

hearing. However, if the parties do not suggest a different procedure, the Court will allow the

Plaintiff to pick the first term and then alternate by term. As a general rule, if one side

proposes “plain and ordinary meaning” as its construction or asserts that a term is indefinite,

the other party shall go first.

GENERALISSUES

1. The Court does not have a limit on the number of motions for summary judgment (MSJs);

 however, absent leave of Court, the cumulative page limit for Opening Briefs for all MSJs

 is 40 pages per side.

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2. There may be instances where the submission of substantive briefs via audio file will be of

 help to the Court. If a party is contemplating submitting a brief via audio file it should 

 contact the Court for guidance on whether it would be helpful to the Court. However, the

Court has determined that audio recordings of Markman briefs are of limited value and those

 need not be submitted. The recordings shall be made in a neutral fashion, shall be verbatim

 transcriptions without additional colloquy (except that citations and legal authority sections

 need not be included), and each such file shall be served on opposing counsel. The Court

 does not have a preference for the manner of recording and has found automated software

 recordings, as well as attorney recordings, to be more than satisfactory. Audio files shall be

 submitted via USB drive, Box (not another cloud storage), or email to the law clerk (with a

 cc to opposing counsel) and should be submitted in mp3 format.

3. The Court will entertain reasonable requests to streamline the case schedule and 

 discoveryand encourages the parties to contact the Court’s law clerk (with opposing counsel)

 toarrange a call with the Court when such interaction might help streamline the case.

4. The Court is generally willing to extend the response to the Complaint up to 45 days ifagreed

 by the parties. However, longer extensions are disfavored and will require goodcause.

5. For Markman briefs, summary judgment motions, and Daubert motions, each party 

 shalldeliver to Chambers one (1) paper copy of its Opening, Response, and Reply Briefs,

 omittingattachments, no later than one week after the last-filed brief or at least a week before

 the hearing, whichever is earlier.

6. Plaintiff must file a notice informing the Court when an IPR is filed, the expected time for an

 institution decision, and the expected time for a final written decision, within two weeks of

 the filing of the IPR.

7. To the extent the parties need to email the Court, the parties should use the following

 emailaddress: TXWDml_LawClerks_JudgeAlbright@txwd.uscourts.gov.

ORDERED this 14th day of September, 2020.

ALAN D ALBRIGHT

UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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APPENDIX A – DEFAULT SCHEDULE

Deadline Item

7 days before CMC Plaintiff serves preliminary4

infringement contentions in the

form of a chart setting forth where in the accused product(s)

each element of the asserted claim(s) are found. Plaintiff shall

also identify the earliest priority date (i.e. the earliest date of

invention) for each asserted claim and produce: (1) all

documents evidencing conception and reduction to practice

for each claimed invention, and (2) a copy of the file history

for each patent in suit.

2 weeks after CMC Deadline for Motions to Transfer.

7 weeks after CMC Defendant serves preliminary invalidity contentions in the

form of (1) a chart setting forth where in the prior art

references each element of the asserted claim(s) are found, (2)

an identification of any limitations the Defendant contends are

indefinite or lack written description under section 112, and

(3) an identification of any claims the Defendant contends are

directed to ineligible subject matter under section 101.

Defendant shall also produce (1) all prior art referenced in the

invalidity contentions, (2) technical documents, including

software where applicable, sufficient to show the operation of

the accused product(s), and (3) summary, annual sales

information for the accused product(s) for the two years

preceding the filing of the Complaint, unless the parties agree

to some other timeframe.

9 weeks after CMC Parties exchange claim terms for construction.

11 weeks after CMC Parties exchange proposed claim constructions.

12 weeks after CMC Parties disclose extrinsic evidence. The parties shall disclose

any extrinsic evidence, including the identity of any expert

witness they may rely upon with respect to claim construction

or indefiniteness. With respect to any expert identified, the

parties shall also provide a summary of the witness’s expected

testimony including the opinions to be expressed and a

general description of the basis and reasons therefor. A

4 The parties may amend preliminary infringement contentions and preliminary invalidity contentions without

leave of court so long as counsel certifies that it undertook reasonable efforts to prepare its preliminary

contentions and the amendment is based on material identified after those preliminary contentions were served,

and should do so seasonably upon identifying any such material. Any amendment to add patent claims requires

leave of court so that the Court can address any scheduling issues.

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failure to summarize the potential expert testimony in a good

faith, informative fashion may result in the exclusion of the

proffered testimony. With respect to items of extrinsic

evidence, the parties shall identify each such item by

production number or produce a copy of any such item if not

previously produced.

13 weeks after CMC Deadline to meet and confer to narrow terms in dispute and

exchange revised list of terms/constructions.

14 weeks after CMC Parties file Opening claim construction briefs, including any

arguments that any claim terms are indefinite.

17 weeks after CMC Parties file Responsive claim construction briefs.

19 weeks after CMC Parties file Reply claim construction briefs.

20 weeks after CMC Parties submit Joint Claim Construction Statement. In

addition to filing, the parties shall jointly submit, via USB

drive, Box (not another cloud storage),5 or email to the law

clerk, pdf versions of all as-filed briefing and exhibits. Each

party shall deliver to Chambers paper copies of its Opening,

Response , and Reply Markman Briefs, omitting attachments.

Absent agreement of the parties, the Plaintiff shall be

responsible for the timely submission of this and other Joint

filings.

23 weeks after CMC (but

at least 1 week before

Markman hearing)

Parties submit optional technical tutorials. The parties shall

also jointly submit, via USB drive, Box (not another cloud

storage), or email to the law clerk, pdf versions of all as-filed

briefing and exhibits.

24 weeks after CMC (or as

soon as practicable)

Markman Hearing at [9:00 a.m. or 1:00 p.m.]

1 business day after

Markman hearing

Fact Discovery opens; deadline to serve Initial Disclosures per

Rule 26(a).

6 weeks after Markman

hearing

Deadline to add parties.

8 weeks after Markman

hearing

Deadline to serve Final Infringement and Invalidity

Contentions. After this date, leave of Court is required for

any amendment to Infringement or Invalidity contentions.

This deadline does not relieve the Parties of their obligation to

5 To the extent a party wishes to use cloud storage, the parties should contact the law clerk to request a Box link

so that the party can directly upload the file to the Court’s Box account.

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seasonably amend if new information is identified after initial

contentions.

12 weeks after Markman

hearing

Deadline to amend pleadings. A motion is not required unless

the amendment adds patents or patent claims.

26 weeks after Markman Deadline for the first of two meet and confers to discuss

significantly narrowing the number of claims asserted and

prior art references at issue. Unless the parties agree to the

narrowing, they are ordered to contact the Court’s Law Clerk

to arrange a teleconference with the Court to resolve the

disputed issues.

30 weeks after Markman

hearing

Close of Fact Discovery.

31 weeks after Markman

hearing

Opening Expert Reports.

35 weeks after Markman

hearing

Rebuttal Expert Reports.

38 weeks after Markman

hearing

Close of Expert Discovery.

39 weeks after Markman

hearing

Deadline for the second of two meet and confer to discuss

narrowing the number of claims asserted and prior art

references at issue to triable limits. To the extent it helps the

parties determine these limits, the parties are encouraged to

contact the Court’s Law Clerk for an estimate of the amount

of trial time anticipated per side. The parties shall file a Joint

Report within 5 business days regarding the results of the

meet and confer.

40 weeks after Markman

hearing

Dispositive motion deadline and Daubert motion deadline.

42 weeks after Markman

hearing

Serve Pretrial Disclosures (jury instructions, exhibits lists,

witness lists, discovery and deposition designations).

44 weeks after Markman

hearing

Serve objections to pretrial disclosures/rebuttal disclosures.

45 weeks after Markman

hearing

Serve objections to rebuttal disclosures and File Motions in

limine.

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46 weeks after Markman

hearing

File Joint Pretrial Order and Pretrial Submissions (jury

instructions, exhibits lists, witness lists, discovery and

deposition designations); file oppositions to motions in limine

47 weeks after Markman

hearing

File Notice of Request for Daily Transcript or Real Time

Reporting. If a daily transcript or real time reporting of court

proceedings is requested for trial, the party or parties making

said request shall file a notice with the Court and e-mail the

Court Reporter, Kristie Davis at kmdaviscsr@yahoo.com

Deadline to meet and confer regarding remaining objections

and disputes on motions in limine.

3 business days before

Final Pretrial Conference.

File joint notice identifying remaining objections to pretrial

disclosures and disputes on motions in limine.

49 weeks after Markman

hearing (or as soon as

practicable)

Final Pretrial Conference. The Court expects to set this date

at the conclusion of the Markman Hearing.

52 weeks after Markman

hearing (or as soon as

practicable)6

Jury Selection/Trial. The Court expects to set these dates at

the conclusion of the Markman Hearing.

6 If the actual trial date materially differs from the Court’s default schedule, the Court will consider reasonable

amendments to the case schedule post-Markman that are consistent with the Court’s default deadlines in light of

the actual trial date.

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