A Blog About Intellectual Property Litigation and the District of Delaware


Entries for tag: Source Code

New Order on Source Code Transportation

Andrew E. Russell, March 16, 2026
Source Code Protective Order

Costs Boomerang
AI-Generated, displayed with permission

Parties in patent cases involving software typically agree to protective orders or stipulated agreements setting out the terms for review and use of source code.

These days, the basic outline of these procedures are usually that the party with the source code offers that code for an inspection at their attorneys' offices. The inspection takes place on a laptop with software for reviewing the code, and the reviewers are prohibited from taking the code directly off of that machine.

Instead, parties are usually limited to requesting paper printouts of limited sections of the code. This may seem odd, but it protects source code from leaking in the event of a data breach at a law firm …

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You Can't Withhold Discovery—Including Source Code—Pending a Rule 12 Motion in D. Del.

Andrew E. Russell, Dec. 6, 2024
Source Code FRCP 12

This train don't stop until the close of fact discovery (... unless the Court stops it)
This train don't stop until the close of fact discovery (... unless the Court stops it) Jed Dela Cruz, Unsplash

The Court issued an oral order in airSlate, Inc. v. Inkit, Inc., C.A. No. 23-1307-RGA-SRF (D. Del.) yesterday, and it's a good reminder of a general rule that frequent D. Del. practitioners already know: once discovery starts, it generally proceeds even while a Rule 12 motion is pending.

The Court's order yesterday described how the defendant in airSlate had objected to producing its source code solely on the basis that a Rule 12 motion for judgment on the pleadings was pending:

Defendant agreed to produce source code in its response to Request for Production …
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Court Denies Request for Discovery of Git / Version Control History for Source Code

Andrew E. Russell, Sept. 25, 2024
Source Code Discovery Dispute

Source Code
Markus Spiske, Unsplash

This is an issue I've seen come up a few times, but I don't know of another opinion on it offhand.

Source code is typically managed using a source control or version control system, typically (but not always) using a program called git. Git is a command-line program that allows developers to manage different versions of source code in a tree structure called a "repository."

A developer can create a "branch" within the repository, for example, to work on a specific feature. As they work on aspects of the code for that feature, they can "commit" them, along with a message about the purpose of their revisions. When they are done working on that feature, …

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Court Rejects Argument That Searching with Search Terms Absolves Accused Infringer of Production of "All" Technical Documents—Including Those that Don't Hit on Terms

Andrew E. Russell, June 15, 2024
Default Standard Document Production

Source Code
Markus Spiske, Unsplash

Over 10 years ago, the District of Delaware adopted its "Default Standard" for discovery, which sets forth several basic rules for discovery, particularly in patent actions.

One of the rules is the requirement to produce "core technical documents" early in the case:

Within 30 days after receipt of the [list of accused products and asserted patents], each defendant shall produce to the plaintiff the core technical documents related to the accused product(s), including but not limited to operation manuals, product literature, schematics, and specifications.

Pretty quickly after its adoption, the Court held that this includes non-public documents, after parties started trying to skirt the rule by dumping user manuals on the patentee.

These days, …

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Court Orders Plaintiff to Supplement Initial Contentions to Explain Citations

Andrew E. Russell, July 29, 2022
Source Code Final Contentions

Do It Now
Brett Jordan, Unsplash

This happened earlier this month, but I wanted to post about it since this is a recurring issue.

In Rex Computing, Inc. v. Cerebras Systems Inc., C.A. No. 21-525-MN (D. Del. July 8, 2022), defendant filed a discovery dispute to compel plaintiff to supplement its infringement contentions to explain how the cited source code meets those limitations.

Plaintiff responded, in part, by noting that these are "initial contentions while discovery is ongoing." D.I. 94 at 1.

Nonetheless, the Court ordered plaintiff to supplement its contentions to explain how the code meets the limitations:

ORAL ORDER . . . Plaintiff shall supplement its infringement contentions on or before July 18, 2022. Citations …
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Source Code Is Not a Core Technical Document

Andrew E. Russell, May 18, 2022
Source Code Discovery Dispute

Source Code
Markus Spiske, Unsplash

Delaware's Default Standard requires defendants to produce "core technical documents" on the accused products, even absent discovery requests from the plaintiff.

These core technical documents "includ[e] but [are] not limited to operation manuals, product literature, schematics, and specifications." Often parties interpret this as a relatively light production of just the core non-public material that a plaintiff needs to make out its infringement contentions.

Sometimes, however, plaintiffs will push back and demand production of source code, saying that a defendant must produce source code as part of its core technical documents.

This is a recurring issue, so I thought it was worth noting that, in Judge Fallon's discovery dispute order that we discussed earlier, she also …

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Giving Away the Crown Jewels

Nathan R. Hoeschen, Feb. 17, 2022
Default Standard Source Code

Computer Screen
Arget, Unsplash

As we must have discussed in one of the prior 238,000,000 entries (estimated) on this blog, the Default Standard for Discovery requires an accused infringer to produce it's "core technical documents" early in the case (60 days after the scheduling conference), to allow the patentee to prepare its infringement contentions. This leads to the question of what exactly constitutes a "core technical document?" and, in particular, is source code a "core technical document"?

This question has gone largely unaddressed in the years since the Default Standard was adopted [editor's note: with at least one exception back in 2012]. This week, however, Judge Stark gave us a parting gift of a bit of clarity, holding that …

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Judge Noreika Sanctions Patentee for Mistreating Source Code

Andrew E. Russell, July 13, 2021
Source Code Protective Order

Fire. I couldn't find an image of raining brimstone.
Fire. I couldn't find an image of raining brimstone. Ricardo Gomez Angel, Unsplash

On Monday, Judge Noreika sanctioned a patentee plaintiff for not following the protective order regarding source code.

Here is what the plaintiff did:

Plaintiff violated the Protective Order at least six times over a period of almost one year by: 1) creating an electronic copy of the source code on July 6, 2020; 2) sending that electronic copy to a vendor that had not signed the Acknowledgement and Agreement to Be Bound by Stipulated Protective Order (which actually violated two provisions of the Protective Order); 3) failing to maintain a log of all copies; 4) storing an electronic and apparently unencrypted copy of the source code …
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