ELEMENT SIX TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED v IIa TECHNOLOGIES PTE. LTD.

ELEMENT SIX TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED v IIa TECHNOLOGIES PTE. LTD.

Mayne Pharma disclosure is confined to work-up experiments directly leading to and necessary for assessing the deployed experiment and is most clearly applicable in 'inevitable result' and 'completeness of data' cases; Electrolux remains authoritative for abandoned experiments and does not require general disclosure of abandoned or extraneous experimental material; implied waiver of privilege is limited and fact-specific; applying these principles the court ordered limited discovery only for actual calibration records for the experiments in the Notice of Experiments and granted production of original Metripol data (spreadsheet form), denied other broad discovery requests...

Citation
[2018] SGHCR 13
Parties
Plaintiff / Respondent: Element Six Technologies Ltd; Defendant / Applicant: IIa Technologies Pte Ltd
Court
High Court Registrar
Jurisdiction
Singapore
Judgment Date
27 August 2018
Case Number
HC/S 26/2016 ( HC/RA 314/2017,HC/SUM 1654/2018 )
Procedural Posture
Patent Infringement and Counterclaim for Revocation; Discovery Applications / Interlocutory Discovery Hearing (applications SUM 1478 and SUM 1654)
Outcome
Partly granted and partly disallowed: limited discovery ordered; other requests refused
Legal Topics
Discovery of Experimental Material, Notice of Experiments Regime, Work Up Experiments, Abandoned Experiments, Waiver of Privilege, Calibration Data, Forensic Imaging Data
Source Language
English
Civil Procedure Intellectual Property Patents Evidence Legal Professional Privilege Discovery Discovery of Experimental Material Notice of Experiments Regime +5 more

Case Brief

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Parties

Element Six Technologies Ltd

Plaintiff / Respondent

IIa Technologies Pte Ltd

Defendant / Applicant

Procedural Posture

Patent Infringement and Counterclaim for Revocation; Discovery Applications / Interlocutory Discovery Hearing (applications SUM 1478 and SUM 1654)

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether discovery extends to all experiments and experimental material
  2. 2 Scope and effect of the Notice of Experiments regime on waiver of privilege
  3. 3 Whether work-up experiments must be disclosed

Ratio Decidendi

Mayne Pharma disclosure is confined to work-up experiments directly leading to and necessary for assessing the deployed experiment and is most clearly applicable in 'inevitable result' and 'completeness of data' cases; Electrolux remains authoritative for abandoned experiments and does not require general disclosure of abandoned or extraneous experimental material; implied waiver of privilege is limited and fact-specific; applying these principles the court ordered limited discovery only for actual calibration records for the experiments in the Notice of Experiments and granted production of original Metripol data (spreadsheet form), denied other broad discovery requests...

Court Disposition

Partly granted and partly disallowed: limited discovery ordered; other requests refused

Orders

  • Grant Request 2 limited to disclosure of documents relating to the actual calibration done for the experiments described in the Plaintiff's Notice of Experiments
  • Grant Request 4(i): produce the raw Metripol data in original usable format (spreadsheet)