It seems that courts were ruling on the intersection of new technology and discovery practice back in the day. In 1986, the United States Court of International Trade decided motions to compel discovery regarding new technologies in Daewoo Electronics Co., Ltd. v. U.S. The court even noted that “[t]his controversy is a good example of how the development of new technology for using, storing and transmitting information allows parties to test the rules of disclosure or discovery.”

There, the court grappled with whether the Department of Commerce met their burden of producing certain documents. The Department of Commerce was accused of committing three faux pas: (1) the tapes provided to the plaintiff was recorded at a much greater density than was stated, (2) data regarding the sale of two separate companies was requested, but not provided, and (3) the government failed to provide material known as an SAS data set.

The government argued that they were in strict compliance with an earlier order mandating that they turn over certain evidence. However, the court expressed that it was troubled “by indications that [the government] took an inordinately restrictive view of its obligations under the order.” The government, when ordered to turn over certain tapes, turned over the tapes themselves (which the plaintiff was unable to read), as opposed to the data contained on the tapes.

“To say that the data sets into which the computer tapes were transferred are not governed by an order speaking of computer tapes is as if someone has said at the dawn of the era of typewriters that types documents are not governed by a court order speaking of ‘writings.’” Further, the court noted that if the government was acting in earnest, then they had “taken unfair advantage of the court’s lack of familiarity with the variety of further electronic refinements and embodiments of taped information.”

Thus, the court granted the plaintiff’s Motion to Compel, setting a precedent for reasonable interpretation of words surrounding new technologies.

Matthew G. Miller, a Seton Hall University School of Law graduate (Class of 2014), focuses his practice in the area of Intellectual Property. Matt holds his degree in Chemistry from the University of Chicago. During law school, Matt worked as a legal intern at Gearhart Law, LLC.