Magistrate Judge Christopher J. Burke recently denied a motion to stay pending the resolution of inter partes review of certain claims of one patent-in-suit. Triplay, Inc. v. WhatsApp Inc., C.A. No. 13-1703-LPS-CJB (D. Del. Sept. 18, 2017). Judge Burke explained that the IPR, including any appeals, would likely be resolved before any significant events were were likely to occur in the litigation (which did not yet have a case schedule), a factor weighing against a stay. Second, while the lack of a case schedule usually means that a case is in its early stages – a factor weighing in favor of a stay – in this case the litigation was nearly four years old, and the lack of a case schedule was due to an early claim construction of certain claims for purposes of a pending motion to dismiss under section 101. Because the case was not, practically speaking, in its early stages, Judge Burke found “no compelling reason to further stall the entirety of this case to allow for the Federal Circuit to review the PTAB’s decisions relating to only some claims of a single patent-in-suit.”
Delaware IP Law Blog 