Federal Circuit Unveils Model Order on E-Discovery in Patent Cases

Disputing Blog by Karl Bayer, Victoria VanBuren, and Holly Hayes

To address the problem of excessive costs of the discovery process, particularly in patent litigation, the Advisory Council of the Federal Circuit created recently a task force to draft a model rule for e-discovery governance.
The final product, “Model Order on E-Discovery in Patent Cases” was unveiled on September 27 by Chief Judge Randall R. Rader at the 2011 E.D. Texas Bench and Bar Conference. The goal of the Model Order, Chief Judge Rader said, is to ” streamline e-discovery, particularly email production, and require litigants to focus on the proper purpose of discovery—the gathering of material information—rather than on unlimited fishing expeditions.”
The 14 provisions of the Model Order address cost shifting, metadata, and the treatment of privileged information. The majority of the provisions address the email discovery.
Download Chief Judge Randall R. Rader’s speech (pages 1-20) and Model Order (pages 21-28) here.

                       

Victoria VanBuren

Victoria VanBuren holds a B.B.A. in Finance from Southern Methodist University and a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law.  She focuses on intellectual property law and arbitration. Known as a "worker bee," she is an active legal blogger and is currently pursuing a degree in computer science.… MORE >