OSC Re Sanctions Issued For Parties’ Unilateral Attempt to Modify Claim Construction Procedure

The court ordered the parties and their counsel to show cause why they should not be sanctioned under Rule 11, Rule 16, 28 U.S.C. § 1927, or the court’s inherent power for their attempts to preserve certain claim construction disputes until after the court's claim construction procedure. "Unlike promises and pie crust, the Rules and Procedures of this Court are not meant to be broken, nor is their breaking to be ignored. . . . [Defendant's] Motion demonstrates a serious disregard for this Court’s Rules, Orders, and its authority to control its own docket. . . . [T]he Parties appear to presumptively require the Court accede to their unilateral decision to brief only a subset of the claim terms and then present other terms at a second claim construction hearing when convenient. . . . The Court will countenance neither the Parties’ unilateral actions which it details herein nor [defendant's] attempt to use the perceived sword of [O2 Micro Int’l, Ltd. v. Beyond Innovation Tech. Co., 521 F.3d 1351, 1362 (Fed. Cir. 2008)] to essentially hijack this Court’s claim construction process and its prerogative to manage its own cases following such unilateral action. . . . [Defendant's] thinly veiled threats of reversal on appeal are offensive and contrary to case law."

SEVEN Networks, LLC v. Google LLC, 2-17-cv-00442 (TXED July 19, 2018, Order) (Gilstrap, USDJ)