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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS

MARSHALL DIVISION

COBBLESTONE WIRELESS, LLC,

 Plaintiff,

v.

CELLCO PARTNERSHIP D/B/A 

VERIZON WIRELESS

 Defendants.

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Case No. 2:23-cv-003822-JRG-RSP

(LEAD CASE)

DISCOVERY ORDER

After a review of the pleaded claims and defenses in this action, in furtherance of the 

management of the Court’s docket under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16, and after receiving 

the input of the parties to this action, it is ORDERED AS FOLLOWS:

1. Initial Disclosures. In lieu of the disclosures required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 

26(a)(1), each party shall disclose to every other party the following information:

(a) the correct names of the parties to the lawsuit;

(b) the name, address, and telephone number of any potential parties;

(c) the legal theories and, in general, the factual bases of the disclosing party’s claims 

or defenses (the disclosing party need not marshal all evidence that may be offered 

at trial);

(d) the name, address, and telephone number of persons having knowledge of relevant 

facts, a brief statement of each identified person’s connection with the case, and a 

brief, fair summary of the substance of the information known by any such person;

(e) any indemnity and insuring agreements under which any person or entity carrying 

on an insurance business may be liable to satisfy part or all of a judgment entered 

in this action or to indemnify or reimburse for payments made to satisfy the 

judgment;

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(f) any settlement agreements relevant to the subject matter of this action; and

(g) any statement of any party to the litigation.

2. Disclosure of Expert Testimony.1 A party must disclose to the other parties the identity 

of any witness it may use at trial to present evidence under Federal Rule of Evidence 702, 

703 or 705, and: 

(a) if the witness is one retained or specially employed to provide expert testimony in 

the case or one whose duties as the party’s employee regularly involve giving expert

testimony, provide the disclosures required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 

26(a)(2)(B) and Local Rule CV-26; and 

(b) for all other such witnesses, provide the disclosure required by Federal Rule of Civil 

Procedure 26(a)(2)(C).

3. Additional Disclosures. Without awaiting a discovery request,2 each party will make the 

following disclosures to every other party: 

(a) provide the disclosures required by the Patent Rules for the Eastern District of 

Texas with the following modifications to P.R. 3-1 and P.R. 3-3: 

i. If a party claiming patent infringement asserts that a claim element is a 

software limitation, the party need not comply with P.R. 3-1 for those claim 

elements until 30 days after source code for each Accused Instrumentality 

is produced by the opposing party. Thereafter, the party claiming patent 

infringement shall identify, on an element-by-element basis for each 

asserted claim, what source code of each Accused Instrumentality allegedly 

satisfies the software limitations of the asserted claim elements.

ii. If a party claiming patent infringement exercises the provisions of 

1 All expert reports should be written such that the report is organized with discrete paragraph numbers.

2 The Court anticipates that this disclosure requirement will obviate the need for requests for production.

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Paragraph 3(a)(i) of this Discovery Order, the party opposing a claim of 

patent infringement may serve, not later than 30 days after receipt of a 

Paragraph 3(a)(i) disclosure, supplemental “Invalidity Contentions” that 

amend only those claim elements identified as software limitations by the 

party claiming patent infringement. 

(b) produce or permit the inspection of all documents, electronically stored 

information, and tangible things in the possession, custody, or control of the party 

that are relevant to the pleaded claims or defenses involved in this action, except to 

the extent these disclosures are affected by the time limits set forth in the Patent 

Rules for the Eastern District of Texas; and

(c) provide a complete computation of any category of damages claimed by any party 

to the action, and produce or permit the inspection of documents or other 

evidentiary material on which such computation is based, including materials 

bearing on the nature and extent of injuries suffered, except that the disclosure of 

the computation of damages may be deferred until the time for Expert Disclosures 

if a party will rely on a damages expert.

4. Protective Orders. The Court will enter the parties’ Agreed Protective Order.

5. Discovery Limitations3. The discovery in this case is limited to the disclosures described 

in Paragraphs 1-3 together with:

Interrogatories: Plaintiff may not serve more than 25 common interrogatories on 

Defendants (as defined below), collectively, and 20 individual interrogatories on each 

Defendant Group (as defined below). The Defendant Groups collectively may serve a 

maximum of 45 interrogatories on Plaintiff and the Defendant Groups may allocate 

3 The parties agree to work in good faith to avoid duplication of discovery and reuse common discovery associated with 

common issues between 2:22-CV-474, -477, and -478 and 2:23-cv-380, 381, and 382.

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among themselves the number of common interrogatories and the number of 

Defendant-specific interrogatories to Plaintiff. Interrogatories permitted under the 

Court’s model ESI order are not included in the 45-interrogatory limit.

Requests for Admission: No Defendant Group, nor Plaintiff, shall answer more than

40 Requests for Admission on substantive issues not related to the authentication of 

documents.

Depositions: Deposition discovery may commence at any time. However, before

depositions of the Parties commence, each side (as defined below) will serve their Rule 

30(b)(6) notice(s) in an effort to avoid either side having to reproduce any fact 

witnesses as a corporate designee. Witnesses shall not be recalled absent good cause. 

Party Fact Witness Depositions:

• Each Defendant Group shall each be subject to a maximum of 49 hours of

depositions.

• Plaintiff shall be subject to a maximum of 49 hours of deposition. To reduce 

redundancy and inconvenience to the Parties, the Defendants may coordinate

and allocate those hours to subjects common to all Defendants and to 

testimony that is specific to each Defendant Group.

• Regardless of the actual length of record time, for any witness a party chooses 

to depose who is not designated as a 30(b)(6) witness, each deposition shall 

count for a minimum of 3.5 hours of record time

• Depositions conducted via translation shall be entitled to additional record time, 

resulting in a total of no more than 10 hours of record time with a deponent 

whose deposition is occurring with the assistance of a translator.

• Party fact witnesses include a party’s corporate designees under FRCP 30(b)(6) 

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and a party’s directors, officers, employees, agents, and representatives deposed 

in their individual capacity under FRCP 30(b)(1). The Parties shall endeavor to 

depose any party fact witnesses within one day.

• Each party reserves the right to seek an adjustment of these time limits based 

upon changes to the scope of discovery, the number of witnesses identified in 

initial disclosed, or the addition or dismissal of any Parties, in this case. These 

provisions, further, may be amended by agreement of the Parties.

The above cumulative limits on deposition time do not constitute any agreements by 

the parties that an opposing party is entitled to take its maximum hours of testimony 

from them; nor does this cumulative limit alter the limitation on each deposition’s 

duration specified under the Federal Rules. The deposition provided for in the Court’s 

model ESI order is excluded from this deposition limit.

Third-party Depositions: Third-party depositions shall be subject to the 7-hour

duration limitsspecified under the Federal Rules. Each side may take a total of 49 hours 

of third-party depositions (excluding inventor, prior artist, and expert depositions).

Named Inventors: The parties may take 21 hours of named inventor depositions per

side. The Parties shall meet and confer in advance of each noticed deposition of a 

named inventor to determine the appropriate number of deposition hours (if any) for 

such inventor, but in no event shall a single named inventor be deposed for more than

7 hours collectively by each side. The Parties will also confer about any other 

deposition logistics such as location, start time, and approved interpreter. Fact 

deposition testimony of inventors is exclusive of any time the inventorspends testifying 

as a designated expert witness or a corporate representative.

Expert Depositions: The Parties shall meet and confer in advance of each expert

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deposition to determine the appropriate number of hours of deposition per expert, but 

generally, no single expert will be deposed for more than 7 hours total per report. The 

Parties will meet and confer in the event that a Party feels that more than 7 hours is 

needed for the deposition of any expert. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if an expert 

offers [non]infringement or damages opinions in a single report for or against more 

than one Defendant Group, that expert may be deposed for an additional 2 hours for

each additional Defendant Group for which he offers opinions (e.g., if an expert offers 

infringement opinions for both the AT&T and Verizon Defendant Groups, he may be 

deposed for 9 hours; if he offers infringement opinions for each of the AT&T, Verizon, 

and T-Mobile Defendant Groups, he may be deposed for 11 hours). In any event, even 

in this case, an expert will not be deposed for more than 14 hours. If any party serves 

a supplemental expert report, the Parties will meet and confer on whether any 

deposition is needed and if so, what the duration of the deposition should be.

Depositions on Written Questions: The parties may conduct depositions on written

questions of custodians of business records for third parties,

Intervenor Group Responses. To the extent any parties intervene, and 

suchapplication is approved by the Court, the Intervenor Group (as defined below) will

respond to all applicable discovery requests within 30 days of the date of the order approving 

intervention.

Definitions: “Side” means a party or a group of parties with a common interest, i.e.,

Defendants, including any intervening parties, comprise one side and the Plaintiff 

comprises the other side. A “Defendant Group” is the group of commonly accused 

Defendants identified in a single complaint, i.e., the AT&T Defendant Group is AT&T 

Corp., AT&T Mobility LLC, and AT&T Services, Inc. Should any parties or group of 

parties move to intervene, the movants of each such intervention motion will constitute 

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its own Defendant Group (“Intervenor Group”).

Cross Use. The parties agree that documents and source code produced in 2:22-CV474, -477, and -478 are deemed produced in 2:23-cv-380, 381, and 382 unless 

otherwise stated.

6. Privileged Information. There is no duty to disclose privileged documents or 

information. However, the parties are directed to meet and confer concerning privileged 

documents or information after the Status Conference. By the deadline set in the Docket 

Control Order, the parties shall exchange privilege logs identifying the documents or 

information and the basis for any disputed claim of privilege in a manner that, without 

revealing information itself privileged or protected, will enable the other parties to assess 

the applicability of the privilege or protection. Any party may move the Court for an order 

compelling the production of any documents or information identified on any other party’s 

privilege log. If such a motion is made, the party asserting privilege shall respond to the 

motion within the time period provided by Local Rule CV-7. The party asserting privilege 

shall then file with the Court within 30 days of the filing of the motion to compel any proof

in the form of declarations or affidavits to support their assertions of privilege, along with the 

documents over which privilege is asserted for in camera inspection. However, if the party 

asserting privilege seeks an in camera review by the Court, such party shall first obtain leave 

from the Court prior to delivery of documents to the Court.

7. Signature. The disclosures required by this Order shall be made in writing and signed by 

the party or counsel and shall constitute a certification that, to the best of the signer’s 

knowledge, information and belief, such disclosure is complete and correct as of the time 

it is made. If feasible, counsel shall meet to exchange disclosures required by this Order; 

otherwise, such disclosures shall be served as provided by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure

5. The parties shall promptly file a notice with the Court that the disclosures required under 

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this Order have taken place.

8. Duty to Supplement. After disclosure is made pursuant to this Order, each party is under 

a duty to supplement or correct its disclosures immediately if the party obtains information 

on the basis of which it knows that the information disclosed was either incomplete or 

incorrect when made, or is no longer complete or true.

9. Discovery Disputes.

(a) Except in cases involving claims of privilege, any party entitled to receive 

disclosures (“Requesting Party”) may, after the deadline for making disclosures, 

serve upon a party required to make disclosures (“Responding Party”) a written 

statement, in letter form or otherwise, of any reason why the Requesting Party 

believes that the Responding Party’s disclosures are insufficient. The written 

statement shall list, by category, the items the Requesting Party contends should be 

produced. The parties shall promptly meet and confer. If the parties are unable to

resolve their dispute, then the Responding Party shall, within 14 days after service of the 

written statement upon it, serve upon the Requesting Party a written statement, in letter 

form or otherwise, which identifies (1) the requested items that will be disclosed, if any, 

and (2) the reasons why any requested items will not be disclosed. The Requesting Party 

may thereafter file a motion to compel.

(b) An opposed discovery related motion, or any response thereto, shall not exceed 7 

pages. Attachments to a discovery related motion, or a response thereto, shall not 

exceed 5 pages. No further briefing is allowed absent a request or order from the 

Court.

(c) Prior to filing any discovery related motion, the parties must fully comply with the 

substantive and procedural conference requirements of Local Rule CV-7(h) and (i). 

Within 72 hours of the Court setting any discovery motion for a hearing, each 

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party’s lead attorney (see Local Rule CV-11(a)) and local counsel shall meet and 

confer in person or by telephone, without the involvement or participation of other 

attorneys, in an effort to resolve the dispute without Court intervention.

(d) Counsel shall promptly notify the Court of the results of that meeting by filing a 

joint report of no more than two pages. Unless excused by the Court, each party’s 

lead attorney shall attend any discovery motion hearing set by the Court (though 

the lead attorney is not required to argue the motion).

(e) Any change to a party’s lead attorney designation must be accomplished by motion 

and order.

(f) Counsel are directed to contact the chambers of the undersigned for any “hot-line” 

disputes before contacting the Discovery Hotline provided by Local Rule CV26(e). If the undersigned is not available, the parties shall proceed in accordance with 

Local Rule CV-26(e).

10. No Excuses. A party is not excused from the requirements of this Discovery Order because 

it has not fully completed its investigation of the case, or because it challenges the 

sufficiency of another party’s disclosures, or because another party has not made its 

disclosures. Absent court order to the contrary, a party is not excused from disclosure 

because there are pending motions to dismiss, to remand or to change venue.

11. Filings. Only upon request from chambers shall counsel submit to the court courtesy 

copies of any filings.

12. Proposed Stipulations by the Parties Regarding Discovery.

a. Privilege Log: No party shall have an obligation to identify on a privilege log any 

privileged communication dated on or after December 15, 2022 or any 

communications or attorney work-product involving litigation counsel.

b. Inadvertent Disclosure: Inadvertent disclosure of material protected by the 

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attorney-client privilege or the work-product doctrine shall be handled in 

accordance with Federal Rule of Evidence 502 and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 

26(b)(3) and (5). The receiving party shall immediately return, destroy, or sequester 

all accessible copies and make reasonable efforts to retrieve the information, if the 

receiving party disclosed it. For purposes of this paragraph, copies made by the 

routing operation of an automated disaster recovery system are not accessible. 

Further, a receiving party shall immediately notify the producing party upon 

discovery of information that appears on its face to have been inadvertently 

produced and shall not use, copy, or distribute the information, pending

confirmation form the producing party that the information was inadvertently produced. 

Upon confirmation, the receiving party shall comply with the other obligations of this 

paragraph. The parties agree to and request that the Court enter the following Order in 

accordance with Fed. R. Evid. 502(d): The production or disclosure of documents, 

information, or other materials (including physical objects) by a party or third-party in 

connection with this proceeding is subject to the provisions of Rule 502(d), which 

provides that any production or disclosure of any information that is subject to any

applicable privilege or protection—including, but not limited to, attorney-client privilege, 

common interest privilege, work product immunity, or any other applicable privilege or 

immunity—shall not be deemed waiver of any privilege or protection (except for an 

intentional waiver of any such privilege) in connection with the litigation pending before

this Court, and shall not serve as a waiver in any other federal or state proceeding. See 

Fed. R. Evid. 502(d). The production or disclosure of materials or information in 

connection with the proceeding, whether by the parties or third parties, shall not be 

deemed a publication so as to void or make voidable whatever claim a party may have as

to the proprietary and confidential nature of the documents, information or other material 

or its contents.

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c. The parties will meet and confer to negotiate stipulations as to: 

i. Form and content of privilege logs 

ii. Discovery of Electronically Stored Information (“ESI”)

iii. Deposition Discovery including foreign language and remote 

depositions 

iv. Authentication of trial exhibits (to preclude the need for authentication 

Requests for Admission). 

13. Standing Orders. The parties and counsel are charged with notice of and are required to 

fully comply with each of the Standing Orders of this Court. Such are posted on the Court’s 

websiteat http://www.txed.uscourts.gov/?q=court-annexed-mediation-plan. The substance 

of some such orders may be included expressly within this Discovery Order, while others 

(including the Court’s Standing Order Regarding Protection of Proprietary and/or 

Confidential Information to Be Presented to the Court During Motion and Trial Practice) 

are incorporated herein by reference. All such standing orders shall be binding on the 

parties and counsel, regardless of whether they are expressly included herein or made a 

part hereof by reference.

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