Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_15-cv-03853/USCOURTS-cand-3_15-cv-03853-3/pdf.json

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

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Stipulation & Order Regarding Discovery of Electronically Stored Information Page 1 of 11 

Case No: 3:15-CV-03853-EMC 

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NIX, PATTERSON & ROACH, L.L.P. 

DEREK T. GILLILAND (pro hac vice) 

dgilliland@nixlawfirm.com 

EDWARD CHIN (pro hac vice) 

edchin@me.com 

CHRISTIAN HURT (pro hac vice) 

christianhurt@nixlawfirm.com 

KIRK VOSS (pro hac vice) 

kirkvoss@me.com 

5215 N. O’Connor Blvd., Suite 1900 

Irving, Texas 75039 

Telephone: (972) 831-1188 

Facsimile: (972) 444-0716 

 – and – 

Lewis E. Hudnell, III (CASBN 218736) 

HUDNELL LAW GROUP P.C. 

800 W. El Camino Real Suite 180 

Mountain View, California 94040 

Telephone: 650.564.7720 

Facsimile: 347.772.3034 

Email: lewis@hudnelllaw.com 

ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFF 

COLLABORATIVE AGREEMENTS, LLC

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 

SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION 

COLLABORATIVE AGREEMENTS, LLC, 

D/B/A OUI AGREE 

Plaintiff, 

v. 

ADOBE SYSTEMS INCORPORATED, et al, 

Defendants. 

Case No: 3:15-cv-03853-EMC 

STIPULATION & ORDER 

REGARDING DISCOVERY OF 

ELECTRONICALLY STORED 

INFORMATION 

Judge: The Honorable Edward Chen 

Case 3:15-cv-03853-EMC Document 132 Filed 12/10/15 Page 1 of 11
Stipulation & Order Regarding Discovery of Electronically Stored Information Page 2 of 11 

Case No: 3:15-CV-03853-EMC 

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Upon the stipulation of the parties, the Court ORDERS as follows: 

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS 

A. 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.” 

B. This Order may be modified in the Court’s discretion or by stipulation. 

C. As in all cases, costs may be shifted for disproportionate ESI production requests 

pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26. Likewise, a party’s nonresponsive or dilatory 

discovery tactics are cost-shifting considerations. 

D. A party’s meaningful compliance with this Order and efforts to promote 

efficiency and reduce costs will be considered in cost-shifting determinations. 

E. General ESI production requests under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 34 and 

45 shall not include email or other forms of electronic correspondence (collectively “email”). To 

obtain email parties must propound specific email production requests. 

F. 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. 

II. INFORMATION TO BE PRODUCED 

 A. Email production requests shall only be propounded for specific issues, rather 

than general discovery of a product or business. 

 B. Within 14 days of completion of Patent L.R. 3-1 and 3-2 disclosures, the parties 

shall exchange a specific identification of each party’s own eight most significant listed e-mail 

custodians. The identification of e-mail custodians shall include the area(s) of relevant 

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Stipulation & Order Regarding Discovery of Electronically Stored Information Page 3 of 11 

Case No: 3:15-CV-03853-EMC 

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knowledge as to each custodian. 

 C. Within 14 days of disclosure of the significant e-mail custodians, the parties shall 

exchange specific requests that a party produce e-mail in accordance with the following 

provisions. 

 1. Email production requests shall be phased to occur after the parties have 

exchanged initial disclosures and basic documentation about the patents, the prior art, the 

accused instrumentalities, and relevant financial information. While this provision does 

not require the production of such information, the Court encourages prompt and early 

production of this information to promote efficient and economical streamlining of the 

case. 

2. Email 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 timeframe as set forth in the Guidelines. Each requesting party shall 

limit its email production requests to a total of five (5) custodians per producing party for 

all such requests. The parties may jointly agree to modify this limit without the Court’s 

leave. The Court shall consider contested requests for additional custodians, upon 

showing a distinct need based on the size, complexity, and issues of this specific case. 

Cost-shifting may be considered as part of any such request. 

3. Each requesting party shall limit its email production requests to a total of 

five (5) search terms per custodian per party. The parties may jointly agree to modify this 

limit without the Court’s leave. The Court shall consider contested requests for 

additional search terms per custodian, upon showing a distinct need based on the size, 

complexity, and issues of this specific case. The Court encourages the parties to confer 

on a process to test the efficacy of the search terms. The search terms shall be narrowly 

tailored to particular issues that are relevant to the claims or defenses in the case. 

Indiscriminate terms, such as the producing company’s name or its product name, are 

inappropriate unless combined with narrowing search criteria that sufficiently reduce the 

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Stipulation & Order Regarding Discovery of Electronically Stored Information Page 4 of 11 

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risk of overproduction. A conjunctive combination of multiple words or phrases (e.g., 

“computer” and “system”) narrows the search and shall count as a single search term. A 

disjunctive combination of multiple words or phrases (e.g., “computer” or “system”) 

broadens the search, and thus each word or phrase shall count as a separate search term 

unless they are variants of the same word. For example, “computer and system” counts as 

a single search term; however “computer and (system or drive or disk)” counts as three 

search terms. Use of narrowing search criteria (e.g., “and,” “but not,” “w/x”) is 

encouraged to limit the production and shall be considered when determining whether to 

shift costs for disproportionate discovery. Should a party serve email production requests 

with search terms beyond the limits agreed to by the parties or granted by the Court 

pursuant to this paragraph, this shall be considered in determining whether any party shall 

bear all reasonable costs caused by such additional discovery. The parties agree to meet 

and confer regarding potential search terms prior to a party collecting and producing 

emails. 

III. FORMAT OF PRODUCTION 

 The parties have agreed and shall produce all ESI in accordance with the agreed-upon 

specifications set forth below: 

A. GENERAL DOCUMENT IMAGE FORMAT. Each electronic document shall 

be produced in text-searchable/OCR’d Tagged Image File Format (“TIFF”) or PDF format 

unless the document cannot reasonably or without undue expense be produced in that format, in 

which case the document may be produced in native format. TIFF files shall be single page, 

Group IV, minimum 300dpi TIFF images. PDF files shall be multi-page wherein each multipage PDF document shall be produced as a single PDF file. The TIFF or PDF images shall be 

named with a unique production number followed by the appropriate file extension. Load files, 

such as Concordance load files, shall be provided to indicate the location and unitization of the 

TIFF or PDF files and ease the loading of the files into the receiving party’s document 

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management system. The document load files shall include fields identifying at least: (1) the 

beginning and ending Bates numbers for each document; and (2) the DocID (which shall match 

the beginning Bates number). When a text-searchable image file is produced, the producing party 

must preserve the integrity of the underlying ESI (i.e., the original formatting, the metadata, and, 

where applicable, the revision history). 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. CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATION. Responsive documents in TIFF or 

PDF format will be stamped with the appropriate confidentiality designations in accordance with 

the Protective Order in this matter. All material not reduced to documentary, tangible, or 

physical form or which cannot be conveniently labeled, shall be designated by the producing 

party by informing the receiving party of the designation in writing. 

C. BATES NUMBERING. All images must be assigned a unique Bates number in 

the footer that is sequential within a given document. 

D. PRODUCTION MEDIA. Documents shall be produced on external hard drives, 

readily accessible computer(s) or electronic media such as CDs, DVDs, USB drives (“Production 

Media”); production by FTP rather than on hard media will be acceptable; and production by 

email is acceptable provided that the receiving party’s designated email address for accepting 

service of the production is used, and the producing party has not received any error or return 

message indicating that the service email was not received or sent successfully. Each piece of 

production media should identify: (1) the producing party’s name; (2) the production date; (3) 

the Bates Number range of the materials contained on the Production Media; and (4) the 

appropriate confidentiality designations in accordance with the Protective Order in this matter. 

E. PRESENTATIONS. The parties shall take reasonable efforts to process 

presentations (e.g., Microsoft PowerPoint) with hidden slides and speaker’s notes unhidden, and 

to show both the slide and the speaker’s notes on the TIFF (or PDF) image and/or produce such 

presentations in their native format pursuant to the terms of native production set forth below. 

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F. SPREADSHEETS. TIFF images of spreadsheets need not be produced unless 

redacted, in which instance, spreadsheets will be produced in TIFF (or PDF) format with OCR. 

Native format copies of spreadsheets should be produced, if available. The parties will make 

reasonable efforts to ensure that any spreadsheets that are produced only as TIFF or PDF images 

are formatted so as to be readable. 

G. PROPRIETARY FILES. To the extent a response to discovery requires 

production of ESI accessible only through proprietary software, the parties should continue to 

preserve each version of such information. The parties shall meet and confer to finalize the 

appropriate production format. 

H. REQUESTS FOR NATIVE FILES. If good cause exists to request production 

of specified files in native format, the party may request such production and provide an 

explanation of the need for native file review, which request shall not be unreasonably denied. 

I. NON-STANDARD FILES. The parties are encouraged to discuss the format of 

production of non-standard electronic files, large oversized documents, etc. before production to 

determine the optimal production format. 

J. SOURCE CODE. To the extent relevant to the Litigation, source code will be 

made available for inspection pursuant to the terms of the Protective Order. The parties agree 

that the search terms will not be applied to source code. 

K. REDACTION OF INFORMATION. Redacted documents and redacted 

portions of documents are subject to the parties’ agreement in the Discovery Order regarding 

whether certain documents need to be included in a privilege log. The producing party shall 

retain a copy of the unredacted data within its possession and control and preserve it without 

modification, alteration or addition to the metadata therewith. 

IV. PROCESSING OF THIRD-PARTY DOCUMENTS 

A. A party that issues a non-party subpoena (“Issuing Party”) shall include a copy of 

this Stipulation & Order Regarding Discovery of Electronically Stored Information with the 

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Stipulation & Order Regarding Discovery of Electronically Stored Information Page 7 of 11 

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subpoena and state that the parties to the litigation have requested that third-parties produce 

documents in accordance with the specifications set forth herein. 

B. The Issuing Party shall promptly produce any documents obtained pursuant to a 

non-party subpoena to the opposing party. 

C. Assuming that it is not unduly burdensome or impractical, if the non-party 

production is not Bates-stamped, the Issuing Party will endorse the non-party production with 

unique prefixes and Bates numbers prior to producing them to the opposing party. 

D. Nothing in this stipulation is intended to or should be interpreted as narrowing, 

expanding, or otherwise affecting the rights of the parties or third-parties to object to a subpoena. 

V. SEARCHING 

A. LOCATIONS THAT WILL BE SEARCHED. The parties will search 

reasonably accessible electronic files or folders likely to have relevant non-duplicative 

information pertaining the issues in the case. This includes repositories maintained or accessed 

by identified Custodians in the ordinary course of business, whether on-premises or off-premises 

(e.g., in a remote email service, such as Gmail, Yahoo! or Hotmail or other cloud-based storage). 

The parties agree that storage media and ESI venues that would require the producing party to 

(1) acquire or purchase software or hardware that it does not have in its possession, custody, or 

control, and/or (2) retain and pay outside IT/technical advisors or consultants, in order to view or 

copy the media’s or ESI venue’s contents is not considered “reasonably accessible” for the 

purpose of this Order. If such a storage media or ESI venue exists, the producing party will 

identify the location to the requesting party. The parties agree that any email searches shall be 

limited to the Custodian’s accounts and, to the extent not duplicative, email archives on the 

Custodian’s local machine. 

In addition, nothing in this paragraph shall limit a receiving party’s right to request from 

a producing party more information about the nature of and burden associated with obtaining 

documents from a particular location. 

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The parties agree to search central repositories, including central databases, or relevant 

portions thereof to the extent that the party reasonably anticipates they contain non-duplicative 

Responsive Documents. The parties agree to meet and confer to limit the scope of production 

from central repositories if the search of central repositories (or relevant portions thereof) that the 

producing party anticipates contain Responsive Documents is unduly burdensome or is likely to 

be unreasonably inefficient in identifying relevant documents. Specifically, the parties recognize 

that certain repositories, by their nature, may not effectively or reasonably be searched using 

electronic search strings, and the parties agree to notify each other of any such repositories that 

contain Responsive Documents. The parties will then meet and confer to discuss the collection of 

Responsive Documents from such repositories, including potentially using other effective 

collection methodologies. 

B. LOCATIONS NOT REQUIRED TO BE SEARCHED. No party shall be 

required to search for or produce the following categories of ESI, except when any particular one 

or more files within any such category are already known to be relevant (i.e., relevant source 

code) or are attached to or identified in a text file, or when any particular one or more files within 

any such category are specifically requested by a party: 1) any electronic file that matches the 

Reference Data Set published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s National 

Software Reference Library; 2) system or executable files (.exe, .dll, etc.); 3) audio, video, or 

audio-visual information (.wav, .mp3, .avi, .swf, etc.); 4) telephonic recordings; 5) unreadable or 

corrupt files; 6) computer log files or records of a computer-operational nature (e.g., HTTP or 

CPU logs, but this does not excuse a party from producing summary reports maintained in the 

ordinary course of business reflecting relevant operational metrics); and 7) any other types 

subsequently agreed to by the parties. 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. Notebook computers and laptop computers used as the Custodian’s 

local or primary machine are not “mobile devices” for the purpose of this paragraph 

C. NO OBLIGATION TO SEARCH METADATA. Without a showing of good 

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cause, no party shall be obligated to perform an additional search for and produce metadata 

associated with any electronic document beyond the metadata that shall allow for compliance 

with the production format contained herein. Metadata includes embedded data about an 

electronic document, such as date created, author, etc., and does not include the text of the 

document itself. 

D. DE-DUPLICATING ESI. Each party may de-duplicate ESI. If de-duplication is 

performed, the de-duplicated originals shall be securely retained and made available for 

inspection and copying upon reasonable request. 

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. 

VI. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS 

A. OBJECTIONS PRESERVED. Nothing in this protocol shall be interpreted to 

require disclosure of irrelevant information or relevant information protected by the attorneyclient privilege, work-product doctrine, or any other applicable privilege or immunity. The 

parties do not waive any objections as to the production, discoverability, admissibility, burden, 

or confidentiality of documents and ESI. 

B. Notwithstanding the preceding paragraphs, the parties may later make other 

agreements for their mutual convenience relating to the form and manner of production. To the 

extent a producing party believes discovery requests or particular applications of this order may 

be unduly burdensome or otherwise objectionable under the applicable rules, the parties will 

meet and confer in good faith as to the necessity for, scope of, and objections to such production 

before seeking relief from the Court. To the extent a receiving party believes that the production 

of a document in a format different from that originally produced is necessary to translate the 

document into a reasonably usable form, the parties will meet and confer in good faith as to the 

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necessity for, scope of and objection to such production before seeking relief from the Court. 

C. An agreement by any party to bear or receive the costs of any ESI discovery is an 

interim agreement subject to modification by a final Taxation Order issued by the Court and 

shall not prejudice any party’s right to seek ESI expenses as taxable costs. 

D. Nothing in this Order prevents the parties from agreeing to use technology 

assisted review and other techniques insofar as their use improves the efficacy of discovery. 

E. Except as expressly stated, nothing in this order affects the parties’ discovery 

obligations under the Federal or Local Rules. 

IT IS SO STIPULATED, through Counsel of Record. 

Dated: /s/ Edward Chin 

Edward Chin 

NIX, PATTERSON & ROACH, L.L.P. 

Counsel for Plaintiff 

Dated: /s/ Jason Wolff 

Jason Wolff 

FISH & RICHARDSON P.C. 

Counsel for Defendant 

IT IS ORDERED that the forgoing Agreement is approved. 

Dated: 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT/MAGISTRATE JUDGE

12/10/15

U

NITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

IT IS SO ORDERED

Judge Edward M. Chen

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

 The undersigned hereby certifies that the foregoing document was electronically filed in 

compliance with Local Rule CV-5 and served via the Court’s electronic filing system on all 

counsel who have consented to electronic service on December 9, 2015. 

 /s/ Jason Wolff 

 Jason Wolff 

 FISH & RICHARDSON P.C. 

Case 3:15-cv-03853-EMC Document 132 Filed 12/10/15 Page 11 of 11