By Standing Order entered on April 30, 2021, the Honorable Colm F. Connolly, of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, rolled out the new summary judgment motion practice in all patent cases assigned to him.  Essentially, Judge Connolly is now requiring parties to number the motions for summary judgment that they file with the Court.  Although Judge Connolly is not limiting the number of motions for summary judgment that any party can file with the Court in any given patent action, his new practice will be that, if he denies any motion for summary judgment filed by a given party in a patent action, he generally will not review any subsequent motion for summary judgment filed by that same party in that same action.  Exceptions will be rare (for example, limited to the situation were the prior denial was a very close call.)

The purpose of Judge Connolly’s new summary judgment practice is to further deter and limit parties from filing meritless motions for summary judgment in patent cases assigned to him.  A copy of the Standing Order is attached.

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