Tessera, Inc. v. Sony Corporation

Filing 103

ORDER by Magistrate Judge Howard R. Lloyd denying 89 Motion for Leave to File a Motion for Reconsideration. (hrllc1, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 10/29/2012)

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*E-filed: October 29, 2012*

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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For the Northern District of California

NOT FOR CITATION

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United States District Court

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SAN JOSE DIVISION

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TESSERA, INC.,
Plaintiff,

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v.
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No. C11-04399 EJD (HRL)
ORDER DENYING LEAVE TO FILE
A MOTION FOR
RECONSIDERATION

SONY CORP.,
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[Dkt. 89]
Defendant.
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Sony seeks leave to file a motion for reconsideration of this Court’s order on Discovery

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Dispute Joint Report (“DDJR”) #4 (Dkt. 83), but Sony is really seeking leave to beef up an

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argument previously made to and rejected by the Court. In DDJR #4, the parties disputed (1)

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Tessera’s contention as to which products were potentially royalty-bearing as well as (2) Tessera’s

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entitlement to damages discovery for the full life of the license agreement between the two parties.

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After considering DDJR #4, a court-ordered supplemental DDJR #4, and lengthy oral arguments,

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the Court concluded that Tessera was entitled to reasonable damages discovery for the products as

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defined by Tessera and for the full life of the license agreement, rejecting Sony’s arguments that

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such a broad range of discovery was both irrelevant as a matter of law and unduly burdensome. 1

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In its request for leave to file a motion for reconsideration, Sony largely repeats the

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arguments it had made before without success. Now, however, Sony also argues that the Court’s

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As an alternative to full-scale production, the Court encouraged the two sides to agree on a fair
selection of representative Sony products and produce responsive documents/information for them
for the lifetime of the agreement. If the parties could not agree on representative products, then
Sony was ordered to produce responsive documents/information for the lifetime of the agreement.

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Standing Order Re: Civil Discovery Disputes (“Standing Order”) “prohibited” Sony from filing a

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declaration or other supporting material in support of its contention that the discovery sought was

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too burdensome. The Court disagrees with Sony’s characterization of its Standing Order.
Although the Standing Order requires a party to seek leave from the court before filing a

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imposed by Tessera’s requests in either the DDJR, the supplemental DDJR, or at the hearing. Sony

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did not explain this burden in writing. Because the Court felt the issues in dispute deserved a full

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hearing, it specially set one. At the hearing, when the Court repeatedly pressed Sony’s counsel to

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explain the burden imposed by Tessera’s requests, counsel could not so much as sketch an outline

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For the Northern District of California

declaration in support of a discovery dispute, Sony was not precluded from articulating the burden

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United States District Court

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for compliance with the task. It is almost inconceivable, considering the magnitude of the burden

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now claimed by Sony, that its counsel was unable at the very least to roughly describe it at the

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hearing. (By that point in the hearing the Court had clearly indicated it was inclined to give Tessera

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the scope of damages discovery it wanted, so Sony’s counsel was “on notice” that some

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substantiation of the “burden” argument was crucial to swaying the Court toward a ruling in Sony’s

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favor.) In short, Sony failed to offer enough of a preview of what a declaration might say to prompt

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the Court to ask for one. And, Sony did not request leave to file one. 2

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Further, Sony knows how to seek leave from the Court to file a declaration in support of its

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discovery arguments. It did so in the first DDJR presented to this Court, and, the Court granted its

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request. 3 Although the Standing Order requires a party to seek leave before filing a declaration, the

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At the hearing, Sony offered to submit a declaration if the Court wanted one, but it did not seek
leave to file one. See Transcript of October 5, 2012 hearing: The Court: “I don’t know how
burdensome it is . . . I don’t know what the data involved is. I don’t know how it’s collated,
organized . . . how it could be retrieved, whether it could be put [on] one or more spreadsheets. I
don’t know and I don’t think you do either.” Counsel for Sony: “I could not tell you that under an
oath. I’m happy to provide you with a declaration from Sony to tell you what it would take to go
through all of that.” Dkt. 101, pp. 53-54.
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See DDJR#1: “If the Court is inclined to consider an ‘apex’ deposition of Mr. Saito—a senior
executive of Sony Corporation with no connection to this case, Sony requests a chance to submit a
declaration attesting to his lack of any relevant knowledge.” (Dkt. 53); order on DDJR#1: “Less clear
from the papers is whether Sony should be required to submit Saito for deposition at all. The Court
requires Sony to submit a declaration describing in detail Saito’s knowledge of the events underlying
this case no later than September 21, 2012.” (Dkt. 64); Further order on DDJR#1: “As to the fifth
witness, Mr. Tadashi Saito, the Court ordered Sony to submit a declaration describing in detail Saito’s
knowledge of the events underlying this case. Having reviewed Saito’s declaration, the Court finds no
basis for requiring Sony to submit him for a deposition.” (Dkt. 72).
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Court grants such leave when necessary to reach a decision. Sony goes too far when it claims that the

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Court’s Standing Order “prohibited” it from presenting evidence in support of its position.

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A party may move for leave to file a motion for reconsideration if it can show a material

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difference in the facts or law that formed the basis of an opinion or a “manifest failure by the Court to

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consider material facts or dispositive legal arguments which were presented to the Court ” before

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issuance of the order. Civ. L. R. 7-9. Sony has shown neither here, and its suggestion that the Court’s

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rules prevented it from making a convincing showing are disingenuous.

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For the foregoing reasons, Sony’s motion for leave to file a motion for reconsideration is
DENIED.

For the Northern District of California

United States District Court

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IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: October 29, 2012

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HOWARD R. LLOYD
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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C11-04399 EJD (HRL) Notice will be electronically mailed to:

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Melissa McCormick
Benjamin Hattenbach
Brian Ledahl
Morgan Chu
Nathan Lowenstein
Richard Krebs
Eileen Ridley
Aaron Moore
Matthew Lowrie
Ruben Rodrigues

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[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

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Counsel are responsible for distributing copies of this document to co-counsel who have not
registered for e-filing under the court’s CM/ECF program.

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For the Northern District of California

United States District Court

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