Hynix v Rambus - order

"The court has received a letter dated April 4, 2005 from Rambus's counsel stating that it learned on March 17, 2005 that Rambus may still be in possession of backup tapes containing data responsive to Hynix's discovery requests. Rambus has found 164 backup tapes in a garage on its premises, many of which may contain backups from the period between 1996 and 2000. Rambus has retained a firm specializing in retrieving and preserving data in obsolete formats on obsolete media to determine the content of the tapes. To date, Rambus has not produced any recovered documents to Hynix.

Rambus has requested a telephonic conference for Monday, April 11, 2005. Hynix responded by letter that, in light of the approaching evidentiary hearing on spoliation and associated filing deadlines, it believes the court should schedule the conference for Thursday, April 7, 2005, instead. Because of the unavailability of Rambus's counsel, the court will schedule the teleconference for Monday, April 11, 2005 at 2:00 p.m. In advance of that conference:

1. Rambus is ordered preserve (sic) the newly discovered evidence. Rambus shall not destroy or alter the original backup tapes or the contents thereof.

2. Rambus is ordered to disclose immediately to Hynix the name of the data recovery firm retained to recover and preserve data from the backup tapes so that Hynix may seek appropriate relief if it has concerns about the firm's integrity.

The parties shall appear telephonically before Judge Ronald Whyte at 2 p.m. on Monday, April 11, 2005, Rambus shall coordinate calling opposing counsel in preparation for the call.

Ronald M. Whyte
United Sates District Judge"

Read the order here.

Hat tip to Joe of the Pinehurst Thread for the heads up.

Hat tip to Rambus Investor Relations for posting the order.