Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-5_14-cv-01379/USCOURTS-cand-5_14-cv-01379-3/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 830
Nature of Suit: Patent
Cause of Action: 35:271 Patent Infringement

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01259 consolidated cases WITHOUT GANNON SIGNATURE

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 

SAN JOSE DIVISION 

ADAPTIX, Inc.,

Plaintiff,

v.

DELL, INC., et al.,

Defendants.

Case No. 5:14-cv-01259-PSG 

v.

AMAZON.COM, INC., et al.,

Defendants.

Case No. 5:14-cv-01379- PSG

v.

BLACKBERRY LTD., et al.,

Defendants.

Case No. 5:14-cv-01380- PSG 

v.

SONY MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS, 

INC., et al.,

Defendants.

Case No. 5:14-cv-01385- PSG 

v.

BLACKBERRY LTD., et al.,

Defendants.

Case No. 5:14-cv-01386- PSG 

v.

BLACKBERRY LTD., et al.,

Defendants.

Case No. 5:14-cv-01387- PSG 

 

[PROPOSED] ORDER REGARDING E-DISCOVERY IN PATENT CASES 

The Court ORDERS as follows: 

1. This order supplements all other discovery rules and orders. It streamlines Electronically 

Stored Information (“ESI”) production to promote a “just, speedy, and inexpensive 

determination” of this action, as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 1.

Case 5:14-cv-01379-PSG Document 109 Filed 01/22/15 Page 1 of 5
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-2- 

Case Nos. 5:14-cv-01259, -01379, -01380,

-01385, -01386, -01387, -03112

2. This order may be modified in the court’s discretion or by agreement of the parties. If the 

parties cannot resolve their disagreements regarding any such modifications, the parties shall 

submit their competing proposals and a summary of their dispute. 

3. A party’s meaningful compliance with this order and efforts to promote efficiency and 

reduce costs will be considered in cost-shifting determinations. 

4. Absent a showing of good cause, general ESI production requests under Federal Rules of 

Civil Procedure 34 and 45, or compliance with a mandatory disclosure requirement of this Court, 

shall not include metadata. However, fields showing the date and time that the document was 

sent and received, as well as the complete distribution list, shall generally be included in the 

production if such fields exist. 

5. Absent agreement of the parties or further order of this court, the following parameters shall 

apply to ESI production: 

A. General Document Image Format. Each electronic document shall be produced in 

Portable Document Format (“PDF”) or single-page Tagged Image File Format (“TIFF”) 

format. Each hard copy document shall be scanned and produced in PDF or single-page 

TIFF format. TIFF files shall be single page and shall be named with a unique 

production number followed by the appropriate file extension. PDF files shall be named 

with a unique production number followed by the appropriate file extension. 

Concordance load files with opticon shall be provided to indicate the location and 

unitization of the PDF or TIFF files. If a document is more than one page, the unitization 

of the document and any attachments and/or affixed notes shall be maintained as they 

existed in the original document. 

B. Text-Searchable Documents. No party has an obligation to make its production 

text-searchable; however, if a party’s documents already exist in text-searchable format 

independent of this litigation, or are converted to text-searchable format for use in this 

litigation, including for use by the producing party’s counsel, then such documents shall 

be produced in the same text-searchable format at no cost to the receiving party. A party 

may produce extracted-text text files to correspond with Concordance load files and the 

produced PDF or TIFF files in lieu of producing text-searchable documents. 

Case 5:14-cv-01379-PSG Document 109 Filed 01/22/15 Page 2 of 5
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-3- 

Case Nos. 5:14-cv-01259, -01379, -01380,

-01385, -01386, -01387, -03112

C. Footer. Each document image shall contain a footer with a sequentially ascending 

production number. 

D. Native Files. A party that receives a document produced in a format specified above 

may make a reasonable request to receive the document in its native format, and upon 

receipt of such a request, the producing party shall produce the document in its native 

format. A Party may produce a document only in its native format, to the extent such 

production of the native format document will not hamper the other Party’s review and is 

in compliance with the other requirements in this Order. 

E. No Backup Restoration Required. Absent a showing of good cause, no party need 

restore any form of media upon which backup data is maintained in a party’s normal or 

allowed processes, including but not limited to backup tapes, disks, SAN, and other 

forms of media, to comply with its discovery obligations in the present case. 

F. Voicemail, Instant Messages, and Mobile Devices. Absent a showing of good 

cause, voicemails, instant messages, PDAs and mobile phones are deemed not reasonably 

accessible and need not be collected and preserved. 

G. Limited Number of ESI Custodians. Each Party shall identify ESI custodians most 

likely to have discoverable information in their possession, custody, or control in view of 

the pleaded claims and defenses, infringement contentions and accompanying documents 

pursuant to P.R. 3-1 and 3-2, invalidity contentions and accompanying documents 

pursuant to P.R. 3-3 and 3-4, and preliminary information relevant to damages. Each 

party1

shall specifically identify seven (7) ESI custodians. These lists are subject to 

revision or supplementation. The parties may jointly agree to modify this limit without 

the court’s leave. The court shall consider contested requests for additional or fewer 

custodians per producing party, upon showing a distinct need based on the size, 

complexity, and issues of this specific case. The specific identification of ESI custodians 

shall include the name and title of the custodian, the custodian’s role in the instant dispute, 

the subject matter of the information likely to be in the custodian’s possession, and a 

short description of why the custodian is believed to be significant. An “ESI custodian,” 

 

1

 For purposes of this Order, any defendants in the above-captioned actions who are related corporate entities (e.g., 

parent and subsidiary) count as one party. 

Case 5:14-cv-01379-PSG Document 109 Filed 01/22/15 Page 3 of 5
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Case Nos. 5:14-cv-01259, -01379, -01380,

-01385, -01386, -01387, -03112

as used herein, does not include common repositories where ESI is stored, such as, 

without limitation, technical document repositories, license agreement repositories, 

source code repositories, network drives that are shared by numerous individuals, 

financial databases, etc. This Stipulation has no effect on the Parties’ document 

production obligations, if any, regarding such common repositories. For the avoidance of 

doubt, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, a Party need not choose as an 

“ESI custodian” a repository where relevant and discoverable materials are stored in 

order for those materials to be discoverable.

6. General ESI production requests under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 34 and 45, or 

compliance with a mandatory disclosure order of this court, shall not include e-mail or other 

forms of electronic correspondence (collectively “e-mail”). To obtain e-mail parties must 

propound specific e-mail production requests. 

7. E-mail production requests shall be phased to occur timely after the parties have exchanged 

initial disclosures, a specific listing of likely e-mail custodians, a specific identification of the 

most significant listed e-mail custodians in view of the pleaded claims and defenses, 2

infringement contentions and accompanying documents pursuant to P.R. 3-1 and 3-2, invalidity 

contentions and accompanying documents pursuant to P.R. 3-3 and 3-4, and preliminary 

information relevant to damages. The exchange of this information shall occur at the time 

required under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Local Rules, or by order of the court. 

Subject to the limits provided in the Court’s Discovery Order, each requesting party may also 

propound up to five written discovery requests and take one deposition per producing party to 

identify the proper custodians, proper search terms, and proper time frame for e-mail production 

requests. The court may allow additional discovery upon a showing of good cause. 

8. E-mail production requests shall identify the custodian, search terms, and time frame. The 

parties shall cooperate to identify the proper custodians, proper search terms, and proper time 

frame. Each requesting party shall limit its e-mail production requests to a total of five 

custodians per producing party. The parties may jointly agree to modify this limit without the 

court’s leave. The court shall consider contested requests for additional or fewer custodians per 

 

2

 A “specific identification” requires a short description of why the custodian is believed to be significant. 

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