Ethanol Producer Magazine

Patent infringement cases consolidated

Fourteen ethanol plants and two technology/manufacturing companies named in a patent infringement lawsuit will have their cases tried in the Southern District of Indiana after a U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ruled that the cases will be consolidated.
SEE HERE
 
SkunK
PS.  Where the SkunK believes the Ethanol Producer Magazine has got it wrong is implying that the cases will be all tried in the Southern District of Indiana.  That is where all the pre-trial motions and discovery will take place - but if it goes that far - the cases will be sent back to the original venues for trial.  At least that is what I get from this legal mumbo jumbo from the MDL web site:
 
"The job of the Panel is to (1) determine whether civil actions pending in different federal districts involve one or more common questions of fact such that the actions should be transferred to one federal district for coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings; and (2) select the judge or judges and court assigned to conduct such proceedings.


The purposes of this transfer or “centralization” process are to avoid duplication of discovery, to prevent inconsistent pretrial rulings, and to conserve the resources of the parties, their counsel and the judiciary. Transferred actions not terminated in the transferee district are remanded to their originating transferor districts by the Panel at or before the conclusion of centralized pretrial proceedings."