By: Arthur Gollwitzer III

On March 23, 2009, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ("The Court") issued proposed local rules for handling patent cases, continuing a trend that began in the Northern District of California in 2001.

The Northern District of Illinois proposed rules contemplate trial of patent infringement cases within two years of filing. Likewise, the proposed rules contemplate exchanging final infringement and invalidity contentions 32 and 36 weeks after filing, respectively; completing claim construction briefing within 48 weeks; and summary judgment motions being due no later than 81 weeks after filing.

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