Judiciary, Congress, See Pressing Need For Discovery Limits In Patent Litigation

A model order issued by the Federal Circuit Advisory Council, seeking to curb the significantly higher discovery costs in  patent litigation, excluded email from general requests, limited  custodians and search terms, and required  a party serving broader discovery to bear all reasonable costs. The order actually was removed from Federal Circuit’s website, but similar models have been adopted by several district courts. Foley & Lardner attorney Stephanie Quick outlines these and some other proposed changes from Congress and the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Civil Rules that could  have a significant impact on discovery practice in future patent cases.