Genentech, Inc. v. Biogen MA, Inc.

Nature of the Order

This is a pretrial order governing the preparation and conduct of the trial. It does not decide the parties’ underlying dispute.

Trial Schedule

The court confirmed that the trial will proceed in Courtroom 1. Jury selection is scheduled for June 27, 2025, and trial evidence, including opening statements, is scheduled to begin June 30, 2025. Trial is generally scheduled for 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with specified breaks and six hours and ten minutes of daily trial time. The court reserved additional time, as needed, for matters outside the jury’s presence and prohibited sidebars.

The court reserved one hour for each party’s closing argument and stated that the parties would receive daily timesheets showing the time remaining. Concerns about the time allocation must be raised immediately or they may be waived.

Evidence, Witnesses, and Trial Materials

The court ordered that witnesses be excluded until they complete their testimony and prohibited references to settlement discussions, mediation, insurance, or a party’s wealth except during any punitive-damages phase to the extent one exists. The parties must inform witnesses of the court’s rulings, and violations may lead to sanctions, including striking a witness’s entire testimony.

The parties are limited to the witnesses listed for the pretrial conference, unless the court permits additional witnesses for good cause, including rebuttal or impeachment. They are also limited to the exhibits on the exhibit list. Documents or objects must be marked for identification before being shown to a witness, and the jury generally may not see exhibits until they are admitted or the parties stipulate to their admissibility, unless the court expressly permits otherwise.

The parties must resubmit the joint exhibit list in the required format by June 23, 2025. The order also addresses witness binders, courtroom equipment, deposition transcripts, expert reports, offers of judgment, jury instructions, trial subpoenas, and certification of the exhibits sent to the jury room.

Jury Procedures and Trial Conduct

The court will seat eight jurors and no alternates and allows three peremptory challenges per side. The court will conduct jury questioning, with each side allowed fifteen minutes for follow-up questions. Challenges alleging improper use of peremptory challenges must be made promptly.

The parties may review publicly available online information about jurors or prospective jurors, but they may not communicate with them or request access to nonpublic social-media information. If a party asks a prospective juror about information found through such a review, the party must disclose the review to that juror.

The court prohibited speaking objections and generally limited objections to brief statements such as “hearsay.” The court allows written questions from jurors, which it will share with counsel during breaks and place in the record. Counsel, parties, and witnesses must act professionally and courteously throughout the trial.

Remote Testimony and Sealing Motions

The court granted Biogen’s unopposed motion allowing Kristina Dickerson to testify remotely from Boston, Massachusetts because of health concerns related to travel. She must testify from the United States Courthouse in Boston, and each side may have one lawyer present with her to manage exhibits. The court also granted the related motion to seal. The opinion does not describe the scope of the sealing ruling.

Disposition

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers entered the pretrial requirements and granted both the remote-testimony motion and the related motion to seal. The court stated that failure to comply may result in sanctions appropriate to the seriousness of the violation, including monetary fines or terminating sanctions.