Judge: “I’ve Had My Fill of Frivolous Filings by Apple”
Richard Posner, the judge presiding over Apple and Motorola’s IP battle in the United States, has finally lost his patience with Apple.
Responding to a motion Apple filed to block Motorola’s deposition of one of its expert witnesses, the second such motion the company had filed in a matter of days, Posner verbally spanked the company’s legal team.
“I deny the second half of Apple’s motion (seeking prohibition of the deposition) as frivolous and the first half (seeking substitution) as untimely,” Posner wrote in an April 26 order published today. “I’ve had my fill of frivolous filings by Apple. The next such motion, and I shall forbid it to file any motions without first moving for leave to file.”
A no-nonsense guy, this Posner. That said, his threat to Apple, while not entirely an empty one, isn’t all that grave either, as FOSS Patent’s Florian Mueller observes.
“The sanction that Judge Posner threatens at the end of the passage quoted above could put Apple at a practical (but not substantive) disadvantage relative to Motorola as the case is fast approaching trial,” Mueller writes. “In that event, Apple would have to file a précis letter first in order to seek permission to file an actual motion.”
In other words, Posner’s threatening Apple with more paperwork — a great deterrent to future frivolous filings, but not one that would undermine the company’s case.
