Masterobjects, Inc. v. eBay, Inc.

Filing 99

ORDER RE: JOINT DISCOVERY LETTER BRIEFS (Dkt. Nos. 90-3, 93). Signed by Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley on 10/24/2013. (ahm, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 10/25/2013)

Download PDF
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 Northern District of California United States District Court 11 12 MASTEROBJECTS, INC., 13 14 Plaintiff, Case No.: 3:12-cv-680 JSC ORDER RE: JOINT DISCOVERY LETTER BRIEFS (Dkt. Nos. 90-3, 93) v. 15 16 17 EBAY, INC., Defendant. 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Now pending before the Court are two Joint Statements regarding discovery disputes. In the first, Plaintiff MasterObjects, Inc. (“MasterObjects”) seeks to compel Defendant eBay, Inc. (”eBay”) to produce certain documents regarding “testing and analysis of the (alleged) economic benefit of the accused eBay search Autocomplete feature and related documents.” (Dkt. No. 90-3, p. 1.) In the second, MasterObjects seeks to compel eBay to produce additional source code for review (Dkt. No. 93). Having considered the parties’ submissions, and having had the benefit of oral argument on October 24, 2013, the Court hereby memorializes the rulings made on the record. 1 2 A. MasterObjects’ Motion to Compel testing and analysis documents (Dkt. No. 90-3) MasterObjects contends that eBay has computerized data and analytic systems which 3 eBay uses to calculate the economic benefit of every aspect of its search function. 4 MasterObjects argues that these systems could be used to calculate the value of the at-issue 5 Autocomplete function, and thus, reasonable royalty damages. In response, eBay asserts that 6 MasterObjects misunderstands how it uses the metrics and that it has produced all responsive 7 documents. Based on counsel for eBay’s representation that his client has searched for and 8 produced all responsive documents, the Court declines to order anything further. 9 MasterObjects’ motion to compel (Dkt. No. 90-3) is therefore DENIED. 10 With respect to the outstanding issues surrounding MasterObjects’ previously denied Northern District of California United States District Court 11 Administrative Motion to Seal the Joint Statement and exhibits thereto, the Clerk shall 12 STRIKE MasterObjects’ filing of the unredacted version of these documents on the public 13 docket (Dkt. No. 97). The parties shall comply with Local Rule 79-5. 14 B. MasterObjects’ Motion to Compel further source code production (Dkt. No. 93) 15 MasterObjects contends that eBay has refused to produce server-side source code for 16 review by MasterObjects’ expert. eBay counters that MasterObjects’ request is overly broad 17 and seeks two massive and complex source code libraries that provide the general server 18 infrastructure for the operation of eBay’s entire website and include over 1,000,000 lines of 19 code. Based on the record before the Court, the Court simply cannot determine what 20 additional source code, if any, should be produced. Further, the Court is skeptical as to 21 whether it, rather than the parties’ experts or those with technical expertise, is in the best 22 position to make this determination. Accordingly, as the parties had previously planned for 23 MasterObjects’ expert to review the source code on Monday, October 28, the expert shall use 24 this opportunity to specifically identify which additional source code he seeks. Counsel shall 25 make themselves available on October 28 as well so that they can engage in a real-time meet 26 and confer regarding the additional source code sought by MasterObjects. MasterObjects’ 27 motion to compel (Dkt. No. 93) is therefore DENIED without prejudice. 28 2 1 The related Administrative Motion to Seal (Dkt. No. 92) remains pending as the time 2 has yet to run for eBay to submit a declaration in support of sealing pursuant to Local Rule 3 79-5(e). 4 5 IT IS SO ORDERED. 6 7 Dated: October 24, 2013 _________________________________ JACQUELINE SCOTT CORLEY UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 8 9 10 Northern District of California United States District Court 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 3

Disclaimer: Justia Dockets & Filings provides public litigation records from the federal appellate and district courts. These filings and docket sheets should not be considered findings of fact or liability, nor do they necessarily reflect the view of Justia.


Why Is My Information Online?