IN RE: CBS Color Tube Patent Litigation

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SEFORE THE JUDICIAL 2ANEL Hay Is 7)	ON Pas “i |
MULTIDISTARICT LITIGATION Clem 80 pyTee Td ’
se Cos COLON LUBE PATENT a)
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diols sroadcasting System 1
Gz..cn Radio Corp. ana The :
...4 Corgp., (N.D.ILl. 71 ) DOCKET NO. 69 : :
$7, 2. Mass. Civil Action J <7 :
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OPINION AND ORLIXR ' ’
p AuFRED P. MURRAH, CHAIWWAN, AND JOHN MINOR WISDOM*,
oe WEINFELD, EDWIN A. RCBSON, WILLIAM H. BECKER*, JOSE?a S. =
~. 1X11, AND STANLEY A. WEIGEL, JUSGES	Or THE PANEL So :
ConiAM
Columbia Broadcasting Syste ('CBS") brought a patent
J.agement sult in the Norcaern District of Illinols against
cn Radio Corporation and The Rkauland Corporation, a wholly
-u subsidiary of Zenith. Defendants filed a counterclaim °
<r the Declaratory Judgment Act asking that the patents in
. pe declared invalid and not infringed. Pursuant to a
v.ous determination, the Panel transferred the Illinois -
.On to the District of Massacausetts for coordinated or coa-
tated pretrial proceedings beiore Chief Judge Andrew
1
caifrey. Defendants have moved the Panel for remand :
Although Judges Wisdom and Becker ware not present at the
Sing, they have, with the consent of all parties, partici- :
~ ... this decision. :
... re CBS Color Tube Patent Litigation, 329 F. Supp. 540
MUL. 1972)

® -2-of the Zenith case to the Northern District of Illinois for
further pretrial proceedings and trial. We deny defendants
motion for remand.
All but two of the patent infringement actions brought
by CBS and consolidated for pretrial proceedings under Section
1407 have settled. Only the Zenith case and an action against
Northeastern Distributors, Inc. (Zenith's exclusive distributor)
remain before Judge Caffrey. And defendants assert that, under
existing case law, the action brought by CBS against North-
eastern is governed, as to outcome, by the main litigation be-
tween CBS (the patentee) and Zenith (the alleged infringing
manufacturer) . Thus, defendants argue that the CBS Color
(] Tube Patent Litigation has ceased to be "multidistrict litiga-
tion" and that remand at this time will afford the judge who
will ultimately try the case the opportunity to supervise the
remaining discovery and become familiar with the litigation. |
CBS opposes the motion for remand. CBS has a motion
pending before Judge Caffrey to have the counterclaim filed
by defendants in the Northern District of Illinois severed and
transferred under 28 U.S.C. §1404(a) to the District of |
Massachusetts for trial. It argues that Judge Caffrey should
be allowed the opportunity to dispose of that motion before
the question of remand is decided by the Panel. We agree.
A transferee judge under Section 1407 has the responsi- :
bility for all pretrial proceedings in litigation assigned to
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LJ him and the motion before Judge Caffrey is certainly a "pretrial" :
notion.2 In view of the pendency of that motion, we expressly
refrain from granting this motion for remand and interfering
in matters within the discretion of the transferee judge.
Furthermore, we are not convinced by defendants' arguments that
an action, in which discovery is not yet completed, should be
remanded simply because all other consolidated cases in the
transferee court have been dismissed or terminated in some way .
We remand an action prior to the completion of pretrial
proceedings only upon a showing of good cause. Defendants have
not persuaded us that remand at this time would promote the
just and efficient conduct of the litigation.
® IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that defendants motion to remand
Columbia Broadcasting System v. Zenith Radio Corp. and The
Rauland Corp., (Northern District of Illinois, 71 C 687) Dis-
trict of Massachusetts, Civil Action No. 69-4, to the Northern
District of Illinois be, and the same hereby is, DENIED.
2/See	In re Antibiotic Drugs Litigation, 333 F. Supp. 299 |
Ts.D.N.Y. 1971) petition for writ of mandamus denied sub nom.
Pfizer, Inc. v. Lord, 447 F.2d 122 (2d Cir. 1971)
3/ Cf. In reGypsum Wallboard Litigation, F. Supp.
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