Good news, IP litigants! The United States District Court, Southern District of Indiana, has issued an announcement regarding operations during the government shutdown:

COURT OPERATIONS AFTER “SHUTDOWN”

The Federal Judiciary is likely to exhaust all available sources of funding some time during the week of October 14, 2013, unless a continuing resolution or other source of funding is passed by Congress and signed by the President before then.

Once all funds have been exhausted, the Judiciary enters a “shutdown” phase. However, even in this phase, the normal processing of all criminal and civil cases will continue. New cases can be filed. Criminal and civil hearings and conferences will take place. Jury and bench trials will proceed. CM/ECF will be operational, and Orders will be processed. The Courthouses of the Southern District will be open.

Customers should experience minimal disruption – unless they are involved in a civil case in which the United States Attorney’s office h as appeared. Some of these cases are stayed pursuant to the Court’s Order of October 7, 2013 (available on our website: www.insd.uscourts.gov). The civil case docket should be reviewed to determine if the stay is in effect in a particular case. Questions about the presence or absence of a stay in a particular case should be directed to the Clerk’s Office.

Any further information on this topic will be posted on the Court’s website.