PENN ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING CORP. v. PENINSULA COMPONENTS, INC.

District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania·Decided August 30, 2021·No. 2:19-cv-00513·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

PENN ENGINEERING & : CIVIL ACTION MANUFACTURING CORP. : Plaintiff, : : v. : No.: 19-cv-513 : PENINSULA COMPONENTS, INC., : Defendant. :

MEMORANDUM

SITARSKI, M.J. August 30, 2021

Presently pending before the Court is Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel Access to Defendant’s Google Ads Accounts, or in the Alternative, Production of Google Ads Reports (Mot. to Compel, ECF No.199-1), Defendant’s response thereto (Resp., ECF No. 210), and Plaintiff’s reply in support (Reply, ECF No. 217).1 For the reasons that follow, Plaintiff’s motion shall be GRANTED.

I. RELEVANT BACKGROUND2

Plaintiff Penn Engineering & Manufacturing Corporation (PEM) alleges that since at least January 2019 Defendant Peninsula Components, Inc. (Peninsula) has programmed its Google Ads account to display advertisements unlawfully suggesting an affiliation between PEM and Peninsula in response to Google users’ search for a variety of keywords and phrases

1 The Honorable Gene K. Pratter referred the matter to me for disposition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A). (Order, ECF No. 161). 2 For additional facts, see my April 1, 2021 memorandum granting in part and denying in part Plaintiff’s consolidated motion to compel responses to requests for production and requests for admission. (Memo., ECF No. 187). The instant memorandum includes only factual and procedural history pertinent to this dispute. containing PEM’s famous “PEM” trademark. (Memo. in Supp. of Mot. to Compel, ECF No. 199-1, at 2-3; see also Sec. Am. Compl., ECF No. 211, at ¶ 48). According to PEM, Google compiles data relating to each customer’s Ads account, and a customer may easily access this data in both standardized and customizable reports through its account. (Memo. in Supp. of Mot. to Compel, ECF No. 199-1, at 3). To obtain these reports and related documents, PEM served Peninsula with the following requests for production of documents on July 8, 2019 (RFPs): RFP No. 8: All Documents between Defendant and Google, Inc. related to any of Defendant’s Online Keyword Advertising Programs hosted by Google, Inc.

RFP No. 10: All Documents related to any report generated by or on behalf of Defendant using any Google Analytics account, Google Ads account, or any other analytic tool related to Defendant’s Online Keyword Advertising Program hosted by Google, Inc.

RFP No. 11: All Documents related to the creation of Defendant’s PEM Online Keyword Advertising Program hosted by Google, Inc. (Peninsula’s Responses to PEM’s First Set of RFPs, ECF No. 199-4, at RFP Nos. 8, 10-11; see also Memo. in Supp. of Mot. to Compel, ECF No. 199-1, at 4). On August 23, 2019, Peninsula objected on various grounds,3 but subject to these objections and the parties’ Stipulated Protective Order, it agreed to produce responsive documents within its possession, custody, or control. (Peninsula’s Responses to PEM’s First Set of RFPs, ECF No. 199-4, at RFP Nos. 8, 10-11). Peninsula contends that it “produced its entire file” for its Google Ads program in the fall of 2019. (Resp., ECF No. 210, at 5). In late 2019, Peninsula also deposed Blake Gardiner, Peninsula’s Director of Marketing, and corporate

3 Peninsula objected to these RFPs as vague, ambiguous, confusing, overbroad and insufficiently precise or particular, and to the extent that they sought information protected by any applicable privilege. (Peninsula’s Responses to PEM’s First Set of RFPs, ECF No. 199-4, at RFP Nos. 8, 10-11). representatives of Peninsula’s Google Ads program vendors, Logical Position (Logical) and ThomasNet. (Id. at 5-6), who both also “produced their entire files” for the program. (Id. at 5- 8). Peninsula’s and the vendors’ files only included reports previously compiled, according to PEM, rather than all information available to Peninsula through its Google Ads account. (Memo. in Supp. of Mot. to Compel, ECF No. 199-1, at 2-3). Thus, some time on or after September 12, 2020, PEM served Peninsula with RFP number 104 requesting Peninsula’s login credentials and instructions for various Google advertisement and business services, related and

substitute services, and in-house and third-party advertisement services for other platforms. (Peninsula’s Responses to PEM’s Seventh Set of RFPs, ECF No. 199-4, at RFP No. 104). Peninsula objected to the request4 and refused to produce any information in response to it. (Id.). On May 15, 2021, PEM served Peninsula with RFP number 130, which requested Google Ads reports available at a specific URL provided by PEM or, in the alternative, the credentials previously requested in RFP number 104. (Peninsula’s Responses to PEM’s Twelfth Set of RFPs, ECF No. 199-4, at RFP No. 130). PEM’s counsel followed up on May 24, 2021, with an email to Peninsula’s counsel requesting the reports. (Mot. to Compel, Ex. 3, ECF No. 199-5). Instead of responding directly to RFP number 130, PEM filed a motion for a protective order on May 26, 2021, as to it and other discovery requests issued by PEM.5 (Mot. for Pro. Order, ECF

No. 189). Also, on May 27, 2021, Peninsula’s counsel responded to the email that “there appear

4 Peninsula objected to this RFP as unreasonably cumulative, vague, ambiguous, confusing, overbroad, insufficiently precise or particular, intrusive, oppressive, annoying, unduly burdensome, disproportionate, propounded to cause embarrassment, and seeking irrelevant information. (Peninsula’s Responses to PEM’s First Set of RFPs, ECF No. 199-4, at RFP No. 104). 5 Peninsula moves for a protective order as to 16 sets of discovery requests issued by PEM, including RFP number 130. (Mot. for Pro. Order, ECF No. 189). The motion remains pending. to be thousands of possible report types listed under that URL” and asked PEM’s counsel to clarify. (Mot. to Compel, Ex. 3, ECF No. 199-5, at 7). He replied on June 1, 2021, that Peninsula could start by producing the “ad performance” and “campaign settings” reports and provided instructions for it to download the reports. (Id. at 6-7). After counsel exchanged emails disputing whether the prior document productions in the matter contained all responsive documents, Peninsula produced two Excel spreadsheets on June 8, 2021. (Id. at 5; see also Memo. in Supp. of Mot. to Compel, ECF No. 199-1, at 6). Peninsula claims that these

spreadsheets are the requested ad performance and campaign settings reports, but PEM disputes that they contain all relevant information requested. (Memo. in Supp. of Mot. to Compel, ECF No. 199-1, at 6; Resp., ECF No. 210, at 8-9; Reply, ECF No. 217, at 4). On June 13, 2021, PEM filed the instant motion to compel access to Peninsula’s Google Ads account or all responsive reports, to which Peninsula responded on June 28, 2021. (Mot. to Compel, ECF No. 199; Resp., ECF No. 210). Peninsula filed a reply in support of its motion on July 6, 2021. (Reply, ECF No. 217).

II. LEGAL STANDARD

Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure governs the scope of discovery in federal litigation. Rule 26(b)(1) provides: Parties may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case, considering the importance of the issues at stake in the action, the amount in controversy, the parties’ relative access to relevant information, the parties’ resources, the importance of the discovery in resolving the issues, and whether the burden or expense of the proposed discovery outweighs its likely benefit.

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PENN ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING CORP. v. PENINSULA COMPONENTS, INC., (E.D. Pa. 2021).

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