Managing Discovery in an IP Dispute: A Practitioner's Guide to Preservation, ESI Protocols, Source Code Review, and Protective Orders
By Casey Scott McKay ·
A step-by-step guide to running discovery in an intellectual property dispute from either side. It begins with the preservation trigger, the hold notice, and the system map that has to exist before anything else can be negotiated. It then works through custodian and date-range selection, search methodology, and the ESI protocol clause by clause. A long central section covers the protective order and the source code review regime, including tier design, the prosecution bar, and the printing and access terms that determine whether review is workable. Later steps cover privilege and clawback, production mechanics, third-party discovery, and cross-border collection. It closes with the sanctions exposure, the budget, and the sequencing errors that cause most of the trouble.
IP and Technology > Patent Litigation | Guide | Published 15 May 2025 - Updated 11 July 2025 | Casey Scott McKay - marksy.us
Start before you are allowed to
The first discovery decision in almost every intellectual property matter is taken before a complaint exists, by somebody who does not know they are taking it.
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