• INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

Viacom Int'l Inc. v. YouTube Inc.

Court Orders Production of Videos and Database Containing 12 Terabytes of Data

In this copyright infringement litigation, the plaintiffs filed a motion to compel production of electronically stored information, seeking copies of all videos currently stored on the defendants' hard drives that were once available for public viewing on YouTube.com. The court noted that the defendants cited no authority barring them from disclosing user information in civil discovery and that login IDs are anonymously created. The court ultimately determined that production of the removed videos was not unduly burdensome and the plaintiffs' need for the data outweighed the unsubstantiated cost of producing the information, and granted the plaintiffs' motion to compel.

• INSURANCE

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT, D. COLORADO.

Cunningham v. Standard Fire Ins. Co

Court Finds Party Failed to Establish Relevance of E-Mail Preservation Upon No Showing of Missing E-Mail

In this insurance contract dispute, the defendants moved for a protective order to prevent the plaintiff from inquiring into various topics contained in the plaintiff's Rule 30(b)(6) Notice of Deposition. The defendants argued that the plaintiff's notice of the topic regarding "knowledge concerning the storage, preservation and backup" of e-mail was irrelevant to the breach of contract claim. The plaintiff stated that he communicated with the defendants via e-mail about his claim, requested all e-mail relating to his claim, and yet received almost no e-mail. The court held that the plaintiff had not met his burden of establishing the topic's relevance after noting that the defendants asserted the plaintiff had not referenced any specific missing e-mails. The court granted the defendants' motion for a protective order in part and denied in part; the court granted the motion with respect to the topic of e-mail storage, preservation and backup.

• CIVIL

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT, D. COLORADO.

John B. v. Goetz

Imaging of the media primarily for the purpose of preservation was an abuse of discretion

Defendants filed a petition for mandamus seeking relief from two discovery orders issued by the district court which ordered the state to allow the plaintiffs' computer expert to examine and forensically image and examine the computer systems of 50 key defendant custodians, including privately owned computers, in order to determine if information was removed, impaired or compromised, and to ensure preservation. The court granted the defendants' petition in part, setting aside the portion of the order that required forensic imaging of hard drives and other devices that contain relevant electronically stored information. The court held the imaging of the media primarily for the purpose of preservation was an abuse of discretion, citing the fact that the record "lacks any evidence that defendants have intentionally destroyed relevant ESI" and noting the significant privacy and confidentiality concerns raised by the order.