Discovery of Licensing Communications Does Not Require “Heightened, More Particularized Showing of Relevance”

The court denied defendants' motion to reconsider its earlier ruling ordering the production of drafts of license agreements and related communications concerning the patents-in-suit. "Defendants argue that the Federal Circuit’s opinion in In re MSTG, 675 F.3d 1337 (Fed. Cir. 2012) requires [plaintiff] to make a heightened showing to get draft licenses and licensing communications. It does not. . . . [T]he Federal Circuit did not hold that 'a party seeking licensing negotiations must make a ‘heightened, more particularized showing of relevance.’' Rather, the Federal Circuit mentioned that one appellate court employs such a standard when confidential mediation communications are sought. The opinion, then, does not change the court’s prior reasoning about the relevance of Defendants’ executed and draft license agreements, or the legal authority underlying that reasoning."

Barnes & Noble Inc. v. LSI Corporation, et. al., 3-11-cv-02709 (CAND December 23, 2012, Order) (Beeler, M.J.).