On October 29, 2013, the Eastern District of Texas adopted a model order (available here) focusing patent claims and prior art to reduce cost. The highlights from the model order are as follows:
(i) by the close of claim construction discovery, the patent holder shall assert no more than 10 claims from each patent and a total of 32 claims;
(ii) fourteen days later, the defendant shall elect no more than 12 prior art references against each patent and not more than a total of 40 references;
(iii) twenty-eight days before serving expert reports, the patent holder shall narrow its asserted claims down to no more than 5 asserted claims per patent, and no more than 16 claims total; and
(iv) on the date for service of burden expert reports, the defendant shall limit its prior art references to 6 per patent, and no more than a total of 20 references (each obvious combinations count as a reference).
If the patent holder asserts only one patent, all per-patent limits are increased by 50%. Absent agreement between the parties, modifications of the model order must meet the “good cause” standard.