Northern District Amends Local Rules On Claim Construction Disclosures

Matthew Chivvis authored an article for the Daily Journal  covering the Northern District of California's amendment to its Patent Local Rules to clarify when, and to what extent, disclosures are due for claim construction experts.

According to Matthew, the amendment "removes any ambiguity as to the expert disclosure requirement in conjunction with Joint Claim Construction Statement" and "will require parties to give a lot more up front thought to whether they plan to use claim construction experts."

"From a strategic perspective, this may put defendants at a disadvantage because they will not have the same opportunity to craft responsive expert opinions after seeing the plaintiff's opening brief and declaration," Matthew said. "For a well-prepared defendant, however, the impact should be minimal, as the likely opinions of a plaintiff's claim construction expert can often be sussed out through meet and confer and discovery."