Free Report and Recommendations - Special Master - District Court of Delaware - Delaware

Case 1:04-cv-00343-JJF Document 579 Filed O3/08/2007 Pagei of 4
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF DELAWARE
LG.PI·IILIPS LCD CO., LTD., :
Plaintiff,
V- Civil Action No. 04-343 JJF
TATUNG CO., TATUNG COMPANY
OF AMERICA, INC., and VIEWSONIC :
CORP., :
Defendants.
SPECIAL MASTER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION
REGARDING LG PHILIPS’ MOTION TO COMPEL TATUNG DEFENDANTS
TO PRODUCE UNREDACTED DOCUMENTS
Upon consideration of Plaintiff LG.Philips LCD Co., Ltd.'s (hereinafter, "LPL")
December 7, 2006, Motion to Compel Defendants Tatung Company and Tatung Company of
America, Inc. (collectively, "Tatung") to Produce Unredacted Documents (the "Motion"), and
Tatung’s opposition submitted in response thereto; and aiier having heard argument on the
Motion from LPL and Tatung during the December 28, 2006 hearing (the "December 28
hearing") held in this case, the Special Master concludes that the Motion should be granted for
the reasons stated on the record during the December 28 hearing and as set forth below.
BACKGROUND
This is a patent infringement action brought by LPL against Tatung and ViewSonic
Corporation alleging infringement of United States Patent Nos. 6,498,7l8 (the '7l8 Patent) and
6,501,641 (the '64l Patent). The Patents relate to assembly mountings for flat panel display
products used in liquid crystal displays ("LCD") for such products as plasma televisions and
computer monitors. D.I. l.
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On or about February 4, 2005, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c), the Court entered an
order titled "Protective Order for J urisdictional Discovery" (the "Protective Order"). The parties
had negotiatedl and presented the Protective Order to the Court for entry on a consensual basis.
[D.l. 144].2
Paragraph 2.2 of the Protective Order provides in pertinent part:
Each party shall have the right to designate as restricted to review
by those categories of individuals listed in Paragraphs 4.l(a) —
4.l(e) and subject to this Protective Order any information
produced in this action which contains, reflects, or otherwise
discloses (l) trade secrets, (2) research and development,
manufacturing, operational or other highly sensitive technical
information, or (3) highly sensitive business related information,
such as customer, supplier or financial infomation (collectively,
"HIGHLY SENSITIVE CONFIDENTIAL information").
(Emphasis added)
Paragraph 5 of the Protective Order govems redaction of documents. In part, Paragraph 5
provides that counsel for a party may "mask ("redact") material deemed exempt from discovery
because it is protected from disclosure under the attomey client privilege or work product
immunity afforded by Rule 26(b), Fed. R. Civ. P." The final sentence of Paragraph 5 of the
Protective Order expressly states that the parties "reserve the right to pursue categories for
redaction in addition to those identified above, by either consent of the parties or order of the
Court, to be addressed on a case-by-case basis."
During the written discovery phase of this case, Tatung produced certain documents to
LPL in redacted form. The Special Master was informed during the December 28 hearing that
the redacted portions of the documents consisted of confidential customer information Tatung
did not want LPL to see. (l2/28/06 Tr. at 23l-32)
I Former counsel for Tatung in this action negotiated the Protective Order on behalf of Tatung.
. . 2
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Case 1:04-cv-00343-JJF Document 579 Filed O3/08/2007 Page 3 of 4
ANALYSIS
It is undisputed that Tatung unilaterally and without the consent of LPL redacted certain
customer infomation from certain documents prior to production of the documents to LPL.
Moreover, Tatung did not (and could not, from what the Special Master can determine) assert
attorney client privilege or work product immunity in support of such redactions. Finally, it is
undisputed that Tatung did not seek approval of the Court to redact sensitive customer
information prior to production of such redacted documents.
The Special Master concludes the Motion should be granted on the basis of the above
undisputed facts. Production of documents containing sensitive customer information is clearly
contemplated by the Protective Order. (Protective Order, ${2.2) If Tatung did not believe certain
customer information should be produced, it should have addressed the issue at the drafting and
negotiation stage of the Protective Order.
In redacting customer information from documents without first obtaining the consent of
LPL or approval of the Court, Tatung failed to comply with Paragraphs 2.2 and 5 of the
Protective Order. The redacted documents should be produced in unredacted form.
CONCLUSION
For the reasons set forth above, the Special Master concludes that Tatung, to the extent it
has not already done so, muSt produce in unredacted form all of the documents previously
produced but redacted by Tatung with respect to customer information, with such unredacted
documents to be produced by March 14, 2007.
2 By stipulation, the parties agreed to extend the Protective Order to cover all documents or infomation
designated CONFIDENTIAL-SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER andfor HIGHLY SENSITIVE
CONFIDENTIAL. [D.I. 232] The stipulation was SO ORDERED on February 2, 2006.
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The Special Master's Report and Recommendation will become a f'maI order of the
Court unless objection is timely taken in accordance with t · • s of Fed. R. Civ. P.
53(g) or other agreement ofthe Parties- ’
ENTERED this
Sth day of March, 2007 Vincen . Poppiti (DSBA > . 100614),
Special - a ·
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