Reald Spark, LLC v. Microsoft Corporation

Summary

The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington denied Microsoft Corporation’s motion to compel RealD Spark, LLC to further supplement its response to an interrogatory concerning alleged trade secrets and know-how. The court held that the interrogatory sought descriptions of trade secrets, not identification of supporting documents, and that Microsoft could not expand the request after the close of discovery.

Holdings

1. An interrogatory asking a party to describe each alleged trade secret does not, without an express request for document identification, require the party to identify documents supporting its narrative response.
2. Microsoft was not entitled to compel a further supplemental response after choosing to depose RealD's crucial witness shortly before the close of discovery and failing to frame its interrogatory or discovery requests to require the requested document identification.

Questions Presented

1. Whether an interrogatory asking a party to describe each alleged trade secret also requires the party to identify documents supporting that description when the interrogatory does not expressly request document identification.
2. Whether Microsoft could compel RealD to provide a further supplemental response identifying documents after the close of discovery based on information elicited during a late deposition.

Disposition

other