FameFlynet, Inc. v. Jasmine Enters. Inc., No. 17 C 4749, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Aug. 8, 2019) (Durkin, J.)

Judge Durkin granted plaintiff FameFlynet’s motions for attorney’s fees as the prevailing party in this copyright dispute involving celebrity wedding photos, and granted in part defendant Jasmine’s motion to strike FameFlynet’s motion.

Upon learning of

TWD, LLC v. Grunt Style LLC, No. 18 C 7695, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Oct. 23, 2019) (Kocoras, J.).

Judge Kocoras granted in part defendant-counterclaimant Grunt Style’s Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(c) motion for judgment on the pleadings and granted Grunt Style’s Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(f) motion to strike plaintiff-counterdefendant TWD’s affirmative defenses

Bodum USA, Inc. v. A Top New Casting, Inc., No. 16 C 2916, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Dec. 28, 2017) (Kennelly, J.).

Judge Kennelly denied defendant A Top’s motions for summary judgment and to exclude the testimony and survey evidence of plaintiff Bodum’s survey experts in this Lanham Act trade dress case involving French-press

VitalGo, Inc. v. Kreg Therapeutics, Inc., No. 16 C 5577, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Dec. 21, 2017) (Dow, J.).

Judge Dow granted in part defendants’ (collectively “Kreg”) Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss plaintiff’s (collectively “VitalGo”) claims and Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(f) motion to strike portions of its complaint in this

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.

Continue Reading Facts Shoe-Horned into Local Rule 56.1 Responses are Disregarded

Civix-DDI, LLC v. Hotels.com, L.P., No. 05 C 6869, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Jan. 19, 2011) (St. Eve, J.).
Judge St. Eve granted in part plaintiff Civix-DDI’s (“Civix”) motion to strike defendants’ (collectively “Hotels.com”) allegedly “new defenses and witnesses” in this patent case. The Court held as follows:
Hotels.com was free to update its corporate witnesses based upon changed jobs and responsibilities, so long as the new witnesses were made available for deposition if they might potentially be called at trial.
Disclosure of a new piece of prior art ten months after the close of fact discovery would prejudice Civix, and Hotels.com did not justify its late disclosure. The prior art was, therefore, excluded pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 37.
The Court also excluded a license for Google technology that was executed in relevant part in August 2010, about three months before Hotels.com’s supplemental interrogatory response disclosing the license. While a three month delay was sometimes acceptable, it was not in this case. Fact discovery closed seven months before the agreement was executed and ten months before the supplemental response identifying the license. And expert discovery was set to close four months after the supplement. Civix, therefore, would have been prejudiced by Hotels.com’s three month delay in this case. So, the license was excluded.

Continue Reading Three Month Delay is Prejudicial After Fact Discovery Closes

Civix-DDI, LLC v. Hotels.com, L.P., No. 05 C 6869, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Jan. 19, 2011) (St. Eve, J.).
Judge St. Eve granted in part plaintiff Civix-DDI’s (“Civix”) motion to strike defendants’ (collectively “Hotels.com”) allegedly “new defenses and witnesses” in this patent case. The Court held as follows:
Hotels.com was free to update its corporate witnesses based upon changed jobs and responsibilities, so long as the new witnesses were made available for deposition if they might potentially be called at trial.
Disclosure of a new piece of prior art ten months after the close of fact discovery would prejudice Civix, and Hotels.com did not justify its late disclosure. The prior art was, therefore, excluded pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 37.
The Court also excluded a license for Google technology that was executed in relevant part in August 2010, about three months before Hotels.com’s supplemental interrogatory response disclosing the license. While a three month delay was sometimes acceptable, it was not in this case. Fact discovery closed seven months before the agreement was executed and ten months before the supplemental response identifying the license. And expert discovery was set to close four months after the supplement. Civix, therefore, would have been prejudiced by Hotels.com’s three month delay in this case. So, the license was excluded.

Continue Reading Three Month Delay is Prejudicial After Fact Discovery Closes