"Schedule A" cases get their name from the fact that the defendants are identified in a "Schedule A," rather than on the cover or in the body of the complaint. In increasingly popular Schedule A design patent cases, the Schedule A is filed under seal. As a result, defendants are not initially aware that a lawsuit has been filed against them, which is the intention. The plaintiff then files an ex parte motion for entry of a sealed Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to enjoin the offer for sale and sale of the allegedly infringing products. Assuming plaintiff's motion is granted—which routinely occurs because the defendants are not provided the opportunity to oppose—the plaintiff then provides the TRO to online marketplaces, who then close the relevant product listings and institute an asset freeze before defendants learn about the proceedings against them. Such cases, therefore, provide plaintiffs with a powerful and relatively quick tool for enforcing design patents against sellers—in particular, foreign sellers—that sell products on popular online marketplaces. This article takes a closer look at such cases in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the preferred venue for the increasingly popular Schedule A design patent cases.

Schedule A Complaint. The most important distinction between typical design patent complaints and Schedule A complaints is that Schedule A complaints are written in a manner intended to prevent the defendants from learning about the proceedings prior to the execution of the TRO. Thus, as noted above, the complaint does not publicly identify the defendants. Rather, the complaint identifies the defendants as, for example, "The Partnerships and Unincorporated Associations Identified on Schedule A," which the plaintiff seeks to file under seal. Even when the Schedule A is filed under seal, the list of defendants also generally does not specifically identify the true names of the defendants, as the identities may not be readily ascertainable. In such cases, defendants are identified by their seller aliases on the respective online marketplaces.