Dynaflair Corp. Canada Inc. v. Mobilflex Inc.

Dynaflair Corp. Canada Inc. v. Mobilflex Inc.

The court balanced the plaintiff's need to inspect financial records to calculate profits against the defendants' confidentiality concerns and ordered that financial documents up to Dec 31, 1998 be disclosed without a confidentiality privilege, while documents from Jan 1, 1999 onward be subject to a confidentiality...

Source-derived case information.

Citation
2001 FCT 57
Parties
Plaintiff Respondent: DYNAFLAIR CORPORATION CANADA INC.; Defendant Applicant: MOBILFLEX INC.; Defendant Applicant: PRODUITS D'ARCHITECTURE DE QUÉBEC 1979 INC.
Court
Federal Court
Jurisdiction
Canada
Judgment Date
12 February 2001
Procedural Posture
Patent Infringement and Misleading Advertising; Claim for Accounting of Profits / Motion for Confidentiality Under Federal Court Rules 151 and 152 (pre Trial Discovery)
Outcome
Motion for confidentiality partially granted
Legal Topics
Patent Infringement, Confidentiality Order, Discovery of Financial Documents, Accounting of Profits, Protective Order
Source Language
english
Intellectual Property Civil Procedure Commercial Law Evidence and Disclosure Patent Infringement Confidentiality Order Discovery of Financial Documents Accounting of Profits +1 more

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Parties

DYNAFLAIR CORPORATION CANADA INC.

Plaintiff Respondent

MOBILFLEX INC.

Defendant Applicant

PRODUITS D'ARCHITECTURE DE QUÉBEC 1979 INC.

Defendant Applicant

Procedural Posture

Patent Infringement and Misleading Advertising; Claim for Accounting of Profits / Motion for Confidentiality Under Federal Court Rules 151 and 152 (pre Trial Discovery)

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether financial documents should be subject to a confidentiality order
  2. 2 Scope in time of confidentiality (which years)
  3. 3 Who may access confidential materials (counsel, experts)

Ratio Decidendi

The court balanced the plaintiff's need to inspect financial records to calculate profits against the defendants' confidentiality concerns and ordered that financial documents up to Dec 31, 1998 be disclosed without a confidentiality privilege, while documents from Jan 1, 1999 onward be subject to a confidentiality order limiting access to counsel of record, counsel participating in the trial and the plaintiff's independent accounting expert, with specified procedural deadlines.

Court Disposition

Motion for confidentiality partially granted

Orders

  • Annual financial statements of Mobilflex for 1988 to 1998 and Mobilflex monthly financial statements for 1988 to December 1998 are not subject to any non-disclosure privilege.
  • Mobilflex customer data bank No. 4003 (dated December 1, 1998), Mobilflex incomplete customer data bank Nos. 700 to 4003, and a sample of twenty-five Mobilflex invoices for 1988 to December 31, 1998 are not subject to any non-disclosure privilege.