August 16, 2012 - Judge Michael Schneider of the Eastern District of Texas deemed “meritless” defendant J. Crew’s objection to the Court’s Markman procedure requiring a lead defendant for briefing and argument.  J.Crew had objected that the procedure would require “an unrelated defendant” to argue claim construction on J.Crew’s behalf. Judge Schneider responded that, “[t]he Court’s procedure mimics the accepted procedure of assigning lead parties in complex cases, such as in multidistrict litigation and class action suits. . . .  The lead defendant requirement does not prevent J.Crew from raising an issues specific to itself . . . [and] in effect acts as the liaison for all the defendants during the Markman procedure.”  GeoTag has sued more than 200 retailers over the use of “store locator” mapping features on websites.  8/14, Eastern District of Texas, assigned to Judge Michael H. Schneider, 2:2012cv00405.