MacNeil Automotive Products Limited v. Yita LLC

Opinion

1 2

3 4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 6 AT SEATTLE 7 MacNEIL AUTOMOTIVE PRODUCTS LIMITED d/b/a WEATHERTECH; and 8 MacNEIL IP LLC, 9 Plaintiffs, C20-278 TSZ 10 v.

11 YITA, LLC d/b/a Oedro or YitaMotor,

12 Defendant.

13 MacNEIL AUTOMOTIVE PRODUCTS LIMITED d/b/a WEATHERTECH; and 14 MacNEIL IP LLC,

Plaintiffs, 15 MINUTE ORDER v. 16 JINRONG (SH) AUTOMOTIVE 17 ACCESSORY DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD.; and RUI DAI, 18 Defendants. 19

The following Minute Order is made by direction of the Court, the Honorable 20 Thomas S. Zilly, United States District Judge: 21 (1) Having reviewed the parties’ Joint Status Report filed on August 12, 2024, docket no. 181, advising that plaintiffs have appealed the final written decisions of the 22 United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) in 1 inter partes review proceedings involving two patents-in-suit in this matter, namely United States Patents Nos. 8,889,655 (“’655 Patent”) and 9,138,917 (“’917 Patent”), the 2 Court DIRECTS that the stay of proceedings concerning plaintiffs’ claims involving the ’655 and ’917 Patents (Counts VIII and VIII1 of the Third Amended Complaint, docket 3 no. 144), shall remain in effect. The parties shall file a Joint Status Report within seven (7) days after the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issues a ruling or 4 otherwise resolves plaintiffs’ challenges to the PTAB’s decisions. 5 (2) Pursuant to the parties’ agreement, which is reflected in their Joint Status Report filed on August 12, 2024, docket no. 181, the stay of proceedings is hereby 6 LIFTED as to Counts I–V2 and Count VII3 of the Third Amended Complaint, docket no. 144. 7 (3) With respect to Counts I–V and VII, the Court hereby SETS the following dates and deadlines: 8 9 JURY TRIAL DATE (7-10 days) October 14, 2025 10 Disclosure of expert testimony October 4, 2024 11 Discovery motions filing deadline January 10, 2025 12 Discovery completion deadline February 28, 2025 13 14 1 Plaintiffs’ claim relating to the ’917 Patent is the ninth count set forth in the Third Amended Complaint, but it is misnumbered as a duplicate Count VIII. See 3d Am. Compl. at 28–29 15 (docket no. 144). 16 2 Count I alleges unfair competition under Illinois common law. 3d Am. Compl. at 14–16 (docket no. 144). Count II asserts unjust enrichment, but does not specify what law applies. See 17 id. at 16–17. Count III pleads violation of a provision of the Lanham Act, namely 15 U.S.C. §1125(a). Id. at 18–19. Count IV is brought under Illinois’s Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices 18 Act. Id. at 19–21. Count V alleges that defendants have engaged in behavior prohibited by Illinois’s Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. Id. at 21–22. 19 3 Count VII relates to United States Patent No. 8,833,834 (“’834 Patent”), with respect to which the PTAB rejected challenges to the validity of Claims 1–12; the PTAB’s decision was affirmed 20 by the Federal Circuit. See Yita LLC v. MacNeil IP LLC, 69 F.4th 1356 (Fed. Cir.), cert. denied, 144 S. Ct. 499 (2023). The PTAB invalidated Claims 13–15 of the ’834 Patent, and that ruling 21 was not appealed. See id. at 1358. Claim construction briefing has been completed with respect to the ’834 Patent, see docket nos. 137, 138, 141, & 143, and with the lifting of the stay imposed 22 by Minute Order entered July 25, 2023, docket no. 154, the matter of claim construction is ripe for the Court’s consideration. 1 Dispositive motions filing deadline March 28, 2025 2 Deadline for filing motions related to expert April 4, 2025 testimony (e.g., Daubert motions) 3 Motions in limine filing deadline September 5, 2025 4 Deadline for responses to motions in limine September 22, 2025 5 Agreed pretrial order due September 26, 2025 6 Trial briefs, proposed voir dire questions, and 7 jury instructions due September 26, 2025 October 3, 2025 8 Pretrial conference at 10:00 a.m. 9 (4) The provisions of the Minute Order Setting Trial Date and Related Dates, docket no. 87, concerning any alteration of the case schedule and the need for counsel to 10 be prepared to commence trial on the date set, the agreed pretrial order and the form of the exhibit list to be included therein, the numbering of trial exhibits, and immediate 11 communication to the Court of any settlement remain in full force and effect. 12 (5) The Clerk is directed to send a copy of this Minute Order to all counsel of record. 13 Dated this 14th day of August, 2024. 14 Ravi Subramanian 15 Clerk 16 s/Laurie Cuaresma Deputy Clerk 17 18 19 20 21 22