I came across Judge Schneider’s decision in the East Texas Adaptix cases a couple of days ago (decision available here). The decision is notable for, among other things, the following analysis regarding what standard is applied when a district court judge reviews a magistrate judge’s claim construction ruling:
Defendants assert that the district court must review de novo the magistrate judge’s claim construction order. But the Court’s local rules establish a clearly erroneous standard when reviewing a magistrate’s judge order on non-dispositive matters. Local Rule CV-72(b).
Claim construction is a non-dispositive, pretrial issue that can be referred to a magistrate judge under 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A). SciCo Tec GmbH v. Boston Scientific Corp., 599 F. Supp. 2d 741, 742 (E.D. Tex. 2009). In some circumstances, out of an abundance of caution, the magistrate judge may choose to issue a report and recommendation (under 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B)) rather than an order on claim construction (under 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A)). See, e.g., Innova Patent Licensing, LLC v. Alcatel-Lucent Holdings, No. 2:10cv251, 2012 WL 2958231, at *1 (E.D. Tex. July 19, 2012). The district judge reviews a report and recommendation under the more demanding de novo standard. Local Rule CV-72(c); Innova Patent Licensing, 2012 WL 2958231, at *1.
But in this case, the magistrate judge issued an order on the non-dispositive issue of claim construction, not a report and recommendation. Accordingly, the clearly erroneous standard applies. Yet, the Court acknowledges that its order will be held to the de novo standard by the appellate court. Thus, the Court determines that even under the more burdensome de novo standard of review, the Court would still agree with and uphold the constructions of the magistrate judge.