You said:...

"Do you not think that at least one defendant will stick around for the Markman hearing at this point? I think most if not all will be going to Markman"...

FIRST:...

It is DM'S call at this point how many of the Sweet Sixteen he wants to settle with before the Markman Hearing:

SECOND:....

The defense unified front has been tenuous at best. Defendants were sold the idea of a unified defense as a cost sharing way to have defense attorneys try their Motions and see if they could convince the Court to buy their idea of No discovery before the Markman was held. Now that they lost on that issue I doubt if the unified front will last much longer.

By their own admissions, defendants have diverse interests, and the cost incurred by them for complience with discovery will be much different for each of them. Thus we will soon see some settlements.

In short although DM is going full ahead with discovery in the case, they have not abandoned their settlement efforts should the opportunity present itself. Dm now is in the enviable position of deciding if they want to settle with say Kyocera or take them through the Markman Hearing by simply raising the ceiling on the ASK part of the negotiation.

IMO most of the defendants will settle before the Markman Hearing, and the most likley candidate for the Markman Hearing among this group will be IMMATION the makers of Blackberry in its multitude versions.

GLTA...

Gil...