Intellectual Property Law

In case you weren?t in San Diego last week, you might have missed the meeting of the American Bar Association?s Corporate Counsel Committee of the Section of Litigation.  But the IP Blawg was there ? and took advantage of several CLE programs.  Many of our readers are undoubtedly interested in the proposed changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure with respect to electronic discovery.  Jeff Greenbaum, the Litigation Section?s liaison to the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules, moderated the fast-paced discussion, and pointed out that the proposed revisions to the rules are anticipated to go into effect on December 1, 2006. 

Key changes include the inclusion of electronic discovery issues in the initial Rule 26 conference, addition to Rule 34 of ?Electronically Stored Information,? the potential for two-tiered discovery based on whether the requested information is ?not reasonably accessible,? (Rule 26), and no sanctions where there is a ?good faith? loss of Electronically Stored Information.  (Rule 37).  The full text of the proposed rules can be found at the Federal Rulemaking website. 

The Judicial Conference accepted the recommendations of the Committee and transmitted the proposed amendments to the Supreme Court on November 29, 2005, with a recommendation for approval.  The Supreme Court then has six months (until May 1, 2006) to vote in the proposed changes and forward them to Congress for enactment by December.

For more information, panelists also recommended reviewing the best practices outlined in the Sedona Principles on electronic discovery and production. 

Today's Blogger:  Nan Joesten