Nature of NPE Plaintiff’s Business Does Not Waive Privilege as to Patent Valuation Analysis​

The court denied defendant's motion to compel the production of documents and rejected defendant's argument that plaintiff's non-practicing entity status precluded it from asserting privilege over ongoing business valuations of the patents-in-suit. "[Defendant] asserts that [plaintiff] cannot assert privilege over these documents due to the nature of its business: [plaintiff] only acquires and then licenses or litigates patents, so the information relates only to a business purpose. But the nature of [plaintiff's] business should neither preclude it, as a general matter, from asserting attorney-client privilege nor automatically shield all of its patent-related documents."

Polaris Innovations Limited v. Kingston Technology Company, Inc., 8-16-cv-00300 (CACD June 16, 2017, Order) (Oliver, MJ)