PRESS RELEASE New Federal E-Discovery Rules Change... -
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Published on: 11/30/2006
Last Visited: 11/30/2006
BOSTON, MA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- November 30, 2006 -- The new federal rules on electronically stored information are changing the litigation game -- especially for patent suits, Adam Kessel, a litigator with Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C., a Boston intellectual property law firm, writes in the October issue of New England In-House.
The new rules take effect on December 1, so companies and their law firms should "adopt best practices now to avoid being put at a disadvantage in future litigation," he writes.
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"Attorneys must thus exercise caution in avoiding inadvertent disclosure, even for PDFs," Kessel writes.
The new rules require scrupulously preserving electronic information.
"When a party anticipates litigation, it is imperative to halt any automatic document destruction of expiration systems in order to be protected by the [good faith] safe harbor.It is unlikely that a court will construe good faith to include inaction when a party knows relevant information may be destroyed automatically," Kessel concludes.
The article can be found at www.newenglandinhouse.com/gateway.cfm?id=458 and Kessel can be contacted at akessel@wolfgreenfield.com.