Synopsys, Inc. v. Atoptech, Inc

Filing 785

ORDER re Discovery Letter Brief RE: ESI Discovery 774 . Signed by Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu on 7/5/2016. (dmrlc3, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 7/5/2016)

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1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 SYNOPSYS, INC., Case No. 13-cv-02965-MMC (DMR) Plaintiff, 8 v. ORDER RE: ESI DISCOVERY 9 10 ATOPTECH, INC, Re: Dkt. No. 774 Defendant. United States District Court Northern District of California 11 12 On June 24, 2016, the parties filed a joint discovery letter regarding their dispute over 13 whether any additional ESI discovery should be permitted for the patent portion of this case. ESI 14 Discovery Letter [Docket No. 774.] 15 On February 18, 2015, the court entered the parties’ stipulated order concerning ESI 16 discovery. Feb. 18, 2015 ESI Order [Docket No. 235]. At that time, the patent claims in the case 17 were stayed. July 22, 2014 Order Staying Patent Claims [Docket No. 142]; April 19, 2016 Order 18 Lifting Stay [Docket No. 280]. On April 9, 2015, the Honorable Maxine M. Chesney bifurcated 19 Synopsys’ copyright claims from its patent claims. [Docket No. 280.] Discovery for the 20 copyright portion of the case closed on June 30, 2015. [Docket No. 33.] Fact discovery for the 21 patent portion of the case closes on July 15, 2016, and expert discovery closes on October 15, 22 2016. [Docket No. 291.] 23 The existing ESI discovery order allowed for eight custodians and ten search terms for 24 custodian-specific ESI, as well as eight custodians and ten search terms for email production 25 requests per producing party. Feb. 18, 2015 ESI Order at 2-3. The parties exhausted all custodian 26 and search terms permitted by the existing ESI order in discovery for the copyright portion of the 27 case. ESI Discovery Letter at 1. 28 ATopTech now moves to amend the existing ESI order to allow for additional ESI for the 1 patent portion of the case. Synopsys opposes ATopTech’s request and argues that no additional 2 custodian-specific ESI discovery should be allowed. ESI Discovery Letter at 4. Alternatively, if 3 such discovery is permitted, Synopsys requests that that the court limit it to email production for 4 three custodians and three search terms per custodian. Id. at 5. 5 This is the kind of dispute that the parties should be able to manage without court 6 intervention. In light of the impending July 15, 2016 fact discovery cut-off, the parties are ordered 7 to immediately meet and confer about a reasonable amount of ESI discovery for the patent portion 8 of the case. After meeting and conferring, if the parties are unable to reach agreement, each party 9 shall present its written proposal with its exact proposed language to amend the existing ESI Order in the form of a proposed order by July 8, 2016. If the parties are unable to resolve this dispute 11 United States District Court Northern District of California 10 without court intervention, the court will be granting some additional ESI discovery for the patent 12 portion of the case. The parties shall only file their proposed orders; they shall not provide further 13 argument. 14 15 16 17 IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: July 5, 2016 ______________________________________ Donna M. Ryu United States Magistrate Judge 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2

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