Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

The purpose of a pretrial conference is set forth in Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, with some modification permissible (and likely) under the particular court's Local Rules and the judge's policies and preferences. Generally, pretrial conferences are intended to focus more upon "procedural" rather than "substantive" matters -- i.e., the judge will attempt to establish the ground rules and timetable and perhaps clarify the issues rather than take evidence and decide the case. In rare instances, the judge can dismiss a case when it appears there are no triable issues, but "flimsy at best" (in your opinion) is probably not going to get proven at a pretrial conference nor, if it were, would that necessarily result in a dismissal. If you are defending a case in Federal Court without an experienced attorney, my first recommendation would be to retain one. Otherwise, obtain the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and read Rule 16, any local court rules of your court pertaining to pretrial conferences, and then look at the numerous Google or Bing "hits" under the FRCP Rule 16 pretrial conference headings, focusing on those that intelligently discuss Rule 16's application in the particular court where you're set for trial. Anything can happen, including dismissal, but that would be highly unusual.