RE: WI-LAN Inc. v. LG Electronics, Inc. et alThis decision relates to a procedural wrangle over WIN's attorney's attempts to prevent disclosure of certain documents it says are protected by attorney/client privilege. They refused to comply with orders, both first instance and appellate, requiring them to produce documents related to an opinion on the merits of the claim against the defendant which WIN voluntarily disclosed to the defendant in pre-litigation negotiations. I suspect that by so disclosing the letter, WIN was held to have waived any privilege attaching to the documents that related to it.
In any event this decision is predicated on whether Townsends had a legitimate excuse for continuing to disobey the original order because they were proceeding with an appeal, and this court held that it was not legitimate. However it appears that the only relevant sanctions relates to payment of costs but it remains to be seen whether the documents will eventually be subject to a final order of disclosure.
So what does this mean ? Clearly there is a reluctance on the part of WIN to show the defendant the documents that are the subject of the order presumably because they are damaging to the claim or helpful to the defendant. However it may simply be another example of lawyers engaging in satellite litigation that has little or no relevance to the main dispute