Stay Prior to Institution of Inter Partes Review Denied

The court denied without prejudice defendant's motion to stay pending inter partes review. "[I]t seems clear that a stay of a patent infringement action is not warranted when based on nothing more than the fact that a petition for inter partes review was filed in the USPTO. All in all, a petition can be pending before the USPTO for up to six months before the agency decides to 'initiate' an inter partes review. . . . The patent owner should be able, if it desires, to prosecute its claims, to take discovery, and to set its litigation positions, at least until such a time as the USPTO takes an interest in reviewing the challenged claims. . . . [A] stay of these proceedings would also, quite frankly, disadvantage Defendant because then this Court would be unable to prevent through pretrial case management a 'shifting sands' litigation strategy by the patent owner." Automatic Manufacturing Systems, Inc. v. Primera Technology, Inc., 6-12-cv-01727 (FLMD May 13, 2013, Order) (Dalton, J.).