In this patent infringement action, the Defendants requested that the court order a further Rule 30(b)(6) deposition of one of the deponents, Mr. Pang. In the motion, Defendants argued that Plaintiff’s counsel objected more than 300 times during the course of Mr. Pang’s deposition, and the objections impeded the fair…
Articles Posted in Discovery
Court Chastises Both Parties for Contentious and Unprofessional Behavior and Warns That Further “Offending Conduct” Will Lead to a Ban from Further Participation in Discovery
After a discovery dispute erupted in this patent infringement action, the court held a telephonic hearing on defendants’ motion to compel discovery and for sanctions and plaintiff’s cross-motion for a protective order. Although the court denied both motions without prejudice, it “chastised both sides for the contentiousness and unprofessionalism that…
Plaintiffs’ Motion for Protective Order Denied But Cautions Defendant That Sanctions Will Be Awarded If Defendant Fails to Convince the Court That a Protective Order Should Not Be Entered
In this patent infringement action, Plaintiffs’ filed a motion for a standard protective order to prevent the defendant from sharing confidential information. The district court denied the motion because the motion was not in the form of a joint stipulated as required by the local rules. As explained by the…
Motion to Strike “Errata Sheets” to Deposition Testimony Granted Where Plaintiff’s Expert Witnesses Changed Answers from “No” to “Yes”
In this patent infringement action, the defendant filed a motion to strike the “errata sheets” to deposition testimony of two of plaintiffs’ expert witnesses, Neill Luebke and Robert Sinclair. The plaintiff opposed the motion to strike. As explained by the district court, “[t]here is an old joke that only lawyers…
Defendant Ordered to Provide Access to Licensee Websites
BNB Health Grades, Inc. (“Health Grades”) filed a patent infringement action against MDx Medical, Inc., d/b/a Vitals.com (“MDx”). During the litigation, Health Grades identified licensing agreements and associated systems that it contended could support additional contentions relating to Health Grades’ claim for indirect infringement.” After MDx declined to produce the…
Production of Billing Statements from Law Firm Denied Even Though Deponent Could Not Recall Details of Why Information Was Not Disclosed to PTO
The defendants in this patent infringement action sought the production of certain billing statements of the law firm representing CleanTech. The defendants argued that the billing statements were discoverable based on their inequitable conduct defense because a witness was unable to recall why certain information was not disclosed to the…
District Court Precludes Deposition of In-House Counsel Who Acted as Part of Trial Team Even Though Counsel Had Relevant, Non-Privileged Conversations Regarding Indemnity
After plaintiff, McAirlaids, requested the deposition of one of Kimberly-Clark’s (“K-C”) in-house litigation counsel, K-C filed a motion for a protective order pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c) to preclude the deposition of its in-house counsel, Vicki Margolis (“Margolis”), who is an active member of its trial team. Counsel…
District Court Grants Motion to Compel Internal Counsel Communications of Plaintiff That Did Not Pertain to Litigation
Dell moved to compel the production of certain internal counsel communications at the plaintiff, MLR. MLR had refused to produce the documents, claiming work product protection. As explained by the district court, “[i]n the circumstances presented here, which are the result of MLR’s choices, the established policies underlying the work…
Fujitsu v. Tellabs: The District Court Orders Additional Sanctions for Fujitsu’s Continued “Contemptuous Conduct”
Following the district court’s previous order granting a motion to compel against Fujitsu, and Fujitsu’s unsuccessful appeal to the Federal Circuit, the district court ordered sanctions in the form of a civil penalty. As the district court explained, the civil penalty was designed to provide an incentive to motivate the…
E.D. Texas court grants stay of litigation pending an IPR based, in part, on patent owner’s failure to timely respond to the stay motion
In Norman IP Holdings v. TP-Link Technologies, Co., et al., the Defendants moved to stay the litigation pending completion of an inter partes review involving the patents-in-suit. The plaintiff did not respond to the motion. Thereafter, the court granted the motion and stayed the litigation pending completion of the IPR…