Defendant’s Decision to Initiate Reexamination Instead of IPR Warrants Denial of Stay​

The court denied defendant's motion to stay pending its request for ex parte reexamination because the lack of potential simplification of issues and undue prejudice to plaintiff weighed against a stay. "Even if the PTO grants the request for an ex parte reexamination of [plaintiff's] patent, the case will not be stayed during that reexamination process. . . . [Defendant] had a choice of applying for ex parte reexamination or inter partes review. The choice of ex parte reexamination was strategically advantageous to [defendant] because the result of the reexamination will have no estoppel effect on [defendant's] arguments here. . . . Thus, the ex parte reexamination process is much less likely to advance the ball in this case. Meanwhile, [plaintiff], which is a direct competitor of [defendant], would be prevented from asserting its patent rights in court for as long as two years, with [defendant] having effectively pressed the pause button on the litigation while hardly needing to lift a finger."

Pro-Troll, Inc. v. Shortbus Flashers, LLC, 3-16-cv-04062 (CAND December 23, 2016, Order) (Chhabria, USDJ)