Free Voir Dire Questions - District Court of Delaware - Delaware

Case 1 :06-cv-00476-GIVIS Q Iiij?g&Qg4 e 1 of 4
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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF DELAWARE
LINEAR TECHNOLOGY )
CORPORATION, )
)
Plaintiff, )
) C.A. N0. 06-476 (GMS)
v. )
)
MONOLITHIC POWER SYSTEMS, INC., )
)
Defendant. )
VOIR DIRE
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, I am about to ask you a series of questions that
we call voir dire. The purpose of the voir dire examination is:
(a) to enable the court to determine whether any prospective _juror should be excused
for cause; and
(b) to enable counsel for the parties to exercise their individual judgment with respect
to peremptory challenges — that is, challenges for which counsel need not give a
reason.
If any of you answer "yes" to any of these questions, I would ask that you to stand up
and, upon being recognized by me, to state your number. At the end of the questions,
I will ask those who have responded "yes" to any of the questions to come to sidebar
(that is, up to the bench next to me) with counsel for the parties to discuss your
answers.
Staff introduced
Panel sworn
This case is expected to take six days to try. The schedule that I expect to maintain
over those six days will be as follows:
We will normally begin the day at 9:00 a.m. promptly. We will go until l:00 p.m.
and, after a one hour break for lunch, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. There will be a
fifteen minute break at ll :00 a.m. and another fifteen minute break at 3:15 p.m. One
exception to this schedule will occur on Thurs. when we will break for the day at 3:30

Case 1:06-cv-00476-G|\/IS Document 210 Filed 06/24/2008 Page 2 of 4
p.m. and not resume again until the following Mon. at 9:00 a..m. Another exception may
occur when the case is submitted to those of you who are selected to serve as jurors for
your deliberation. On that day, the proceedings might last beyond 4:30 p.m. We will post
a copy of this schedule for the your convenience in the jury deliberation room.
l. Does the length of this trial or the schedule contemplated by the court present a
special problem to any member of the panel?
Description of The Case
This case is an action for breach of contract and for patent infringement. The plaintiff
In this case is Linear Technology Corporation (or simply "Linear"). The defendant
In this case is Monolithic Power Systems, hic. (or simply "Monolithic").
Linear accuses Monolithic of breaching an agreement between the parties not to sell
certain voltage regulator circuits and seeks damages for that K -
denies that it has breached the agreement, i* :lected to serve as jurors,‘
I ons regarding the meaning of the word
infiingement once you are sworn-in as jurors and a ain at the conclusioglgétlheirig, ·
u a inear a so contends t a lvR$1·re=l4thi in `nges its
patents by making, using, selling or offering for sale certain voltage regiilator circuits.
Monolithic denies that it infringes Linear’s patents and contends that Linear’s
patents are invalid.
2. Has any member of the panel heard or read anything about this case?
Counsel asked to introduce themselves and their firms
3. Does any member of the panel, your immediate family (spouse, child, parent or
sibling), or anyone close to you know any of the attorneys involved in the case or
have you or any of` your immediate family had any business dealings with or been
employed by any of these attorneys or their respective law firms?
4. Have you, any member of your immediate family, or anyone close to you ever been
employed by Linear or Monolithic?
5. Have you, any member of your immediate family, or anyone close to you ever owned
stock in any of these companies?
6. Have you, any member of your immediate family, or anyone close to you ever had a
business relationship of any kind with any of these companies?
7. Have you, or to the best of your knowledge any member of your immediate family or
anyone close to you had any experiences with any of these companies that might keep

Case 1:06-cv-00476-G|\/IS Document 210 Filed 06/24/2008 Page 3 of 4
you from being a fair and impartial juror?
8. Do you possess any opinions about any of these companies that might keep you from
being a fair and impartial juror?
Counsel identify all potential witnesses
9. Does any member of the panel know or is any member of the panel familiar with any
ofthe prospective witnesses?
10. Have you ever worked in the fields of computers, electrical engineering or electronic
circuits?
1 1. Do you believe companies frequently try to infringe or violate the patent rights of
other companies?
12. Have you, any member of your immediate family, or anyone close to you ever been
employed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office or the United States
lntemational Trade Commission? Any other Govemment agency, state or federal?
13. Do you hold any opinions about the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the
Intemational Trade Commission, or any other Government agency, state or federal?
14. Do you have any opinions about the relationship between patents and the public
interest that might keep you from being a fair and impartial juror?
15. Do you believe that because a patent is issued by the U.S. government, it must be valid?
16. Have you, anyone in your immediate family, or anyone close to you ever applied for
or obtained a patent in the U.S. or abroad?
17. Have you, any member of your immediate family, or anyone close to you ever had an
experience with patents or the patent system?
18. Would the fact that a witness appearing on behalf of one party or the other was not born
here in the U.S. or does not use English as their primary language keep you from being a
fair and impartial juror?
19. Have you ever served as a juror in a criminal or a civil case or as a member of a grand
jury in either a federal or state court?
20. Have you, anyone in your immediate family or anyone close to you ever participated
in a lawsuit as a party or in any other capacity (such as a plaintiff, defendant, or
witness)?

Case 1:06-cv-00476-G|\/IS Document 210 Filed 06/24/2008 Page 4 of 4
21. If you are selected to sit on this case, is there any reason you would be unable to render a
verdict solely on the evidence presented at the trial and in the context ofthe law as I will
give it to you in my instructions, disregarding any other ideas, notions or beliefs about the
law you may have or that you may have encountered in reaching your verdict?
22. Is there any member of the panel who has any special disability or problem that
would make serving as a member of the jury difficult or impossible?
23. Having heard the questions put to you by the court, does any other reason suggest
itself to you as to why you could not sit on this jury and render a fair verdict based on
the evidence presented to you and in the context of the court’s instructions to you on
the law?