In this patent infringement action, the defendants filed a motion to strike an errata change to the deposition testimony of a witness, Joseph Tindall. The district court noted that if the errata were allowed, it would change an answer from “yes” to “no.” As a justification for the change, the…
Articles Posted in Discovery
After Defendant Seeks to Claw Back Attorney-Client Privileged Documents, District Court Determines Privileged Waived (Including Work Product) Because Witness Gave Testimony Regarding Privileged Documents at Deposition
The defendants produced documents in response to plaintiffs’ first set of requests for production and included in the production were five documents that the defendants were later claim were subject to attorney-client privilege. Before the defendants made that claim, however, the plaintiffs deposed a corporate designee of Defendants Musion Events…
Defendant’s “Piecemeal” Approach to Discovery and Review of Only Select Files of Corporate Employees Results in Sanctions
In this patent infringement action, the defendants conducted a “piecemeal approach to discovery, reviewing only the files of select corporate employees.” The district court found that this approach was contrary to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and to repeated orders of the court. In response to plaintiff’s motion to…
District Court May Preclude Evidence from Parent Company Where Parent Company Was Dismissed from Case and Then Refused to Provide Discovery
When this patent infringement action began, the plaintiff explained that it was concerned that it would not be able to obtain important discovery if Ricoh Company Ltd. (“RCL”), which is the parent company of the defendants, Ricoh Electronics, Inc. (“REI”) and Ricoh Americas Corp. (“RAC”) were dismissed as a party.…
District Court Refuses to Recognize “Apex” Doctrine for Documents Created by Inventor and Global Leader of Company
The defendant filed a motion to compel, seeking a wide array of discovery against Plaintiffs Dyson, Inc. and Dyson Limited (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) to produce emails belonging to James Dyson (“Dyson”). Plaintiffs asserted that Dyson is Plaintiffs’ “global leader” and one of the named inventors on the patents-in-suit. Although plaintiffs agreed…
District Court Orders Production of Settlement Agreements But Denies Request for Deposition That Would Go Beyond Four Corners of the Agreements
Plaintiffs filed a declaratory judgment action seeking a declaration that U.S. Patent No. 7,923,221 (the “Cabilly III patent”), owned by Defendants, is invalid and therefore Plaintiffs do not owe royalties with respect to Praluent. During the case, Plaintiffs requested production of five executed settlement agreements that resolved prior litigations involving…
The Problem with Backup Tapes: District Court Orders Retention of Old Backup Tapes for Ongoing Litigation
In this patent infringement action pending in a multi-district litigation, one of the defendants moved the district court for an order allowing the defendant to destroy old backup tapes. Defendant ICM, Inc. (“ICM”) moved for an order permitting it to destroy old backup tapes that contain electronic business information of…
Applying New Proportionality Requirements, Court Grants Motion to Compel and Orders Production of Unredacted Tax Returns and Financial Statements
In this patent infringement action, Slide Fire Solutions, LP (“Slide Fire”) moved to compel discovery responses from Bump Fire Systems (“Bump Fire”). Bump Fire also requested a protective order to prevent the disclosure of certain discovery, including sensitive trade secrets and financial information. With respect to the financial information, the…
District Court Denies Discovery Served Too Close to Discovery Cut-Off
Plaintiff filed a patent infringement action, alleging that Defendant B2B Supply and Defendant Jerrell P. Squyres (hereinafter “Defendants”) infringed U.S. Patent No. 7,731,462 (the ‘462 patent). Toward the end of discovery, the Defendants served written discovery and filed a motion seeking to extend the discovery deadline by 50 days to…
District Court Grants Sanctions Reducing Number of 30(b)(6) Depositions, Awarding Costs to Plaintiff and with a Warning that Defendant’s Discovery Could Be Closed
In this patent infringement action, the plaintiff filed a motion for discovery sanctions. The plaintiff argued in its motion that defendant failed to comply with the district court’s October 7, 2015 oral discovery order and related text-only order, in which the district court apparently warned the defendant that failure to…