Opinion
ORDER RE PARTIES REQUEST FOR EXTENSION OF CLAIMS CONSTRUCTION BRIEFING AND HEARING DATES
PATRICIA V. TRUMBULL, Magistrate Judge.
On January 25, 2007, the parties appeared by telephone before Magistrate Judge Patricia V. Trumbull in connection with their joint request for an extension of the claims construction briefing and hearing dates. The parties informed the court that Plaintiff has applied to the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO") for re-issuance of a patent-in-suit. The parties further informed Magistrate Judge Trumbull that, because this may affect which claim terms must be construed, Plaintiff is preparing a motion before District Judge Jeffrey S. White to stay this case pending the outcome of the proceedings before the PTO. Defendant is considering whether or not to join in the motion for a stay. In order to allow Plaintiff time to prepare the motion to stay, and for Defendant to decide whether or not to oppose the motion for stay, the parties have asked Magistrate Judge Trumbull to continue the briefing and hearing dates for claim construction. Based on the discussion during the telephone hearing,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the parties shall immediately contact District Judge White to seek leave of court to further continue the claims construction tutorial and hearing, which are currently scheduled for February 13 & 14, 2007. Magistrate Judge Trumbull is amenable to such a continuance. However, because the hearing has already been continued once for a few months, any further continuance should be approved by Judge White. If Judge White agrees that a continuance is warranted in order to allow time for him to consider the motion to stay, the current claims construction briefing and hearing schedule will be deemed vacated and the parties shall contact Magistrate Judge Trumbull to set a status conference date. If Judge White does not agree that a continuance is warranted, then the tutorial and claims construction hearing will go forward as currently scheduled.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the deadline for Defendant to file its responsive claim construction brief is extended to January 30, 2007, solely to allow time for the parties to seek guidance from Judge White as outlined above. The deadline for Plaintiff to file its reply claim construction brief is extended to February 6, 2007.