The Agoracom God got a little overzealous and deleted the following post. If it offends someone or does not confirm to Agoracoms rules…I sure would like to know why…

Poking around Pacer to try and figure out the average timeline for a case scheduled in Marshall. Since the TiVo vs. Echostar trial took place there, thought maybe the timing of events for that trial might give some insight as to what we can expect. I am not an attorney, have never served on a jury for a civil case, let alone set foot in a Texas courtroom, so this could be bad approach…but here it is. BTW, I wish I could just copy everything from Pacer so you could see it for yourself, but there is so much info plus it doesn’t format well…so sorry. Also, I am using what is referred to as the “Event Filed” date as a point of reference. This is not the date that the item was “Satisfied”.

Using the “Deadlines/Hearings” section in Pacer for the J3 case (2:05cv494), and pulling from the “Event Filed” column, I tried to compare the events leading up to the Markman hearing for the TiVo case to see if I could figure out where we are in the process. As a point of reference, I started with the last “Deadline” we have listed in the J3 lawsuit, which is labeled as “Answer Due”. There are a lot of these and they appear to be answers from the attorneys to the court from both sides of the fence. The date for the last “Answer Due” that we have listed in the “Deadlines/Hearings” for the J3 case is 10/24/2005.

In reading the “Deadlines/Hearings” for the TiVo case (5:05-cv-00081), and pulling from the “Event Filed” column, here are the “Event Filed” dates for the TiVo case starting with the last “Answer Due” event up to the “Markman Hearing” event.

Answer Due – 4/29/2005

Scheduling Conference – 7/18/2005

Joinder of Parties Deadline - 12/22/2005

Markman Hearing – 1/13/2006

Looking at the TiVo case, it appears that 8 ½ months elapsed between the time the last “Answer Due” event was filed, and the “Markman Hearing” event was filed. If we apply this logic to our case, than as JB has been saying, it could happen this month. However, as Greeneyes has also been stating, there needs to be a “Scheduling Conference” before the Markman Hearing. There was one scheduled in the TiVo case, but I don’t see one listed in the J3 case. The time elapsed between the “Scheduling Conference” event filing date and the “Markman Hearing” filing date for the TiVo case is 6 months. Since this event has yet to be filed, I guess we could also assume that the Markman Hearing could be pushed out until sometime next year.

Anyways, I am not an attorney; therefore appreciate any comments from the smarter ones on this board. I am sure my logic is riddled with errors, so corrections welcome. I realize that you probably can’t compare two lawsuits, but since it is the same venue, I thought I would give it a shot.

Also, thought I would include a summary of the Markman Hearing description from the TiVo vs. Echostar lawsuit. Personally, I found two things interesting. 1) It was only scheduled to be 8 hours in length, 2) It never happened.

Markman Hearing set for 4/10/2006-4/11/2006 before Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven and courtesy copies of all claim construction briefings should be forwarded to court. At the hearing, the plaintiff is limited to 4 hours and defendants are limited to 4 hours. Signed by Judge Caroline Craven on 1/13/2006. (sm, )

GLTA