In a
May 29, 2014 ruling, Judge Katherine B. Forrest declined to compel the answers to contention interrogatories early in this patent infringement action. The Court wrote:
There is no special "patent rule" that provides for contention interrogatories at the outset of a case. There are, however, significant alternative means for the parties to obtain additional particularity regarding allegations: this Court's Individual Rules provide for the virtually immediate disclosure of plaintiff's infringement contentions, followed by a document production, followed by disclosure of any invalidity contentions, followed (again) by a document production. And so on. The Local Patent Rules provide similarly.
