Atmel Corp. v. Information Storage Devices, Inc.

189 F.R.D. 410, 53 Fed. R. Serv. 249, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20686, 1999 WL 947992
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedSeptember 29, 1999
DocketNo. C95-01987 WHA
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 189 F.R.D. 410 (Atmel Corp. v. Information Storage Devices, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Atmel Corp. v. Information Storage Devices, Inc., 189 F.R.D. 410, 53 Fed. R. Serv. 249, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20686, 1999 WL 947992 (N.D. Cal. 1999).

Opinion

ORDER IN LIMINE EXCLUDING IN PART TESTIMONY OF GEORGE KERN AND DENYING COUNTER-MOTION

ALSUP, District Judge.

INTRODUCTION

This order prohibits expert George Kern from testifying on direct examination to certain conclusions expressed in the expert report required by Rule 26(a)(2)(B) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure because those conclusions were based, at the time rendered, on an unreliable methodology. Under the normal operation of Rules 26 and 37 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, an expert may not extend his or her direct testimony beyond the opinions and bases disclosed in the Rule 26(a)(2)(B) report and may not, on direct examination, cover new work done thereafter. Under Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, an expert who intends to testify that some seventeen alleged trade secrets were not “generally known” or published during a period several years past must base such an opinion on more than his mere inability to recall having heard of them before the end of the relevant time period. An expert who consciously decides, at the suggestion of litigation counsel, not to review the relevant universe of literature or to consult colleagues familiar with techniques known and unknown during the relevant time period and who chooses instead merely to rest on such an inability to recall will not be permitted on direct examination to express broad opinions concerning what alleged secrets were and were not generally known. The fact that such an expert, as a matter of litigation tactics, chooses to wait and see what references the opposition discovers on its own and then prepares a rebuttal report thereon does not cure the omission in the Rule 26(a)(2)(B) report. Such a course re-[412]*412fleets deliberate litigation tactics, not an inadvertent oversight or an excusable lapse. The disruption caused by such tactics is not harmless. To excuse such intentional conduct by allowing a new round of revised expert reports and a new round of depositions would invite further abuse. It would waste the effort already invested in such preparation. In the circumstances of this case, the expert will be precluded from testifying, on direct examination, as to what information was or was not generally known, was or was not published, or did or did not constitute trade secrets. The expert will, however, be permitted to testify more narrowly, as set forth below.

STATEMENT

This action began in 1995, when plaintiff Atmel Corporation (“Atmel”) sued defendant Information Storage Devices, Inc. (“ISD”) for, among other things, misappropriation of trade secrets. ISD’s present in limine motion concerns the proposed trial testimony of Atmel’s expert George Kern in support of Atmel’s trade secret claims. Mr. Kern has thirty years of practical experience in the semiconductor industry (Declaration of George Kern in Opposition to ISD’s Motion in Limine to Exclude Proposed Testimony of George Kern (“Kern Decl.”), Exh. A(l)). Mr. Kern’s responsibilities have included, among other things, negotiating technology-licensing agreements, developing products, and developing product-manufacturing processes (ibid.).

Mr. Kern submitted an expert report December 23, 1998, under Rule 26(a)(2)(B). In that report he opined that Atmel’s alleged trade secrets 7, 8, 10-15, 17-24, 32, and 34 were not generally known in the semiconductor industry, and that these seventeen items of information were, in fact, trade secrets (Expert Report of George Kern at 111128-29, 33, 39, 43, 50, 55, 59, 65, 70, 75, 79, 83, 88, 92, 96, 101). His report further stated, as to some of the alleged trade secrets, that the information “had not been published,” although he qualified that assertion by the phrase “to the best of my knowledge” (e.g., id. at H 29).

Mr. Kern was purportedly retained as an independent expert to help the jury determine the extent to which numerous manufacturing processes were “not generally known” during a three-year period beginning ten years before the date of trial, i.e., 1989-92. In carrying out his assignment, however, Mr. Kern did not search the relevant literature before he formulated his ,Rule 26(a)(2)(B) report. Nor did he refresh his recollection by reviewing technical articles, books, patents, or other publications that he had read before the end of 1992. Nor did he consult colleagues knowledgeable on the subject and time frame. Mr. Kern testified as follows:

MS. DEMARCHI: Did you review any technical articles, books, patents or other technical publications before you formulated the opinions that you’ve expressed in your initial report, that we’ve marked as Exhibit 930, that Atmel’s alleged trade secrets were not generally known?
MR. WEED: Object to the form.
MR. KERN: No.
MS. DEMARCHI: Why not?
MR. KERN: Primarily because the task I was fheed with was forming an opinion, not doing any .research in the area as to what I believed, or my opinion was, was the circumstances in that time frame relative to these specific items.
MS. DEMARCHI: Did you believe that your assigned task was to not do any research and to simply formulate an opinion in the absence of doing any research?
MR. WEED: Object to the question as argumentative.
MR. KERN: Yes.
MS. DEMARCHI: Why did you believe that was your task?
MR. WEED: Object as argumentative to the last question.
MR. KERN: Because I had a discussion with Mr. Weed about what his expectations of me
[413]*413were, and those were the expectations.
MS. DEMARCHI: What did Mr. Weed tell you his expectations were?
MR. KERN: His expectations were that I -should evaluate these trade secrets and give my opinion on them, as I discussed earlier in the testimony, and not to spend a lot of time doing literature searches and research; that ISD would, in fact, if they believed there was literature that was counter to what my beliefs were, then we would address it in a rebuttal report.
MS. DEMARCHI: Mr. Kern, how did you arrive at your opinion with respect to each of the alleged trade secrets that you considered that each was not published or was not generally known?
MR. KERN: Well, I don’t think I had an opinion that they weren’t published. I think not generally known. I arrived at my conclusions based on my familiarity with the field and what I had read during that time frame to determine whether I thought it was generally known or not.
MS. DEMARCHI: Did you go back and read the technical articles; books, patents or other publications that you had read during the 1989-92 time period?
MR. KERN: No, I didn’t.

(Deposition TV. of George Kern (“Kern Dep.”), 136:25-137:7).

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189 F.R.D. 410, 53 Fed. R. Serv. 249, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20686, 1999 WL 947992, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/atmel-corp-v-information-storage-devices-inc-cand-1999.