Only the First, Ltd. v. Seiko Epson Corp., No. 07 C 1333, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Sep. 30, 2011) (Dow, J.).

Judge Dow granted defendants summary judgment of invalidity based upon several prior art references in this patent case involving color combinations for a printing system. As an initial matter, the Court excluded the following for failure to comply with Local Rule 56.1: 

  •  Legal conclusions or unsupported statements of fact;

  • Denials without proper factual support were deemed admitted;

  • Any additional facts in a brief, but not in a Rule 56.1 statement as supplemental statements; and

  • Facts shoe-horned into Rule 56.1 responses.

Of particular note:

  • The Court denied plaintiff’s motion to strike defendant’s supplemental expert declaration. While the reports included new opinions, plaintiffs were not prejudiced because the declarations were served during discovery and before the depositions of the experts.

  •  While the Court could have stopped its analysis after the first piece of art invalidated the remaining claims, the Court analyzed each piece of art for the sake of completeness.