Waymo LLC v. Uber Technologies, Inc.

870 F.3d 1350, 124 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1222, 2017 WL 4018406, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 17668
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit·Decided September 13, 2017·No. 2017-2235; 2017-2253·Published·Cited by 21 cases

Opinion

WALLACH, Circuit Judge.

Appellant Anthony Levandowski, an in-tervenor, seeks to prevent discovery sought by Appellee Waymo LLC (‘Waymo’’). 1 Waymo sued Uber Technologies, Inc. (“Uber”), Ottomotto LLC, and Otto Trucking LLC (together, “Ottomotto”) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (“District Court”) alleging, inter alia, claims of patent infringement and violations of federal and state trade secret laws. Specifically, Waymo alleges that its former employee, Mr. Levan-dowski, improperly downloaded thousands of documents related to Waymo’s driver-less vehicle technology and then left Way-mo to found Ottomotto, which Uber subsequently acquired. Before the acquisition closed, counsel for Ottomotto and Uber (but not counsel for Mr. Levandowski) jointly retained Stroz Friedberg, LLC (“Stroz”) to investigate Ottomotto employees previously employed by Waymo, including Mr. Levandowski. The resulting report (“the Stroz Report”) is the subject of the discovery dispute at issue on this appeal.

During discovery, Waymo sought to obtain the Stroz Report using two separate mechanisms. First, Waymo filed a motion to compel Uber and Ottomotto to produce the Stroz Report. Appellant’s App. 62. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley granted Waymo’s Motion to Compel. See Waymo LLC v. Uber Techs., Inc. (Waymo I), No. 17-CV-00939-WHA (JSC), 2017 WL 2485382, at *1 (N.D. Cal. June 8, 2017). Second, Waymo subpoenaed Stroz to obtain the Stroz Report along with the communications, documents, and devices provided to Stroz. Appellant’s App. 141-42. When Mr, Levandowski, Ottomotto, and Uber moved to quash the subpoena by arguing that the Stroz Report is subject to attorney-client privilege or attorney work-product protection, the Magistrate Judge denied the motion to quash. See Waymo LLC v. Uber Techs., Inc. (Waymo II), No. 17-CV-00939-WHA (JSC), 2017 WL 2676424, at *1, *7 (N.D. Cal. June 21, 2017). Mr. Levandowski, Ottomotto, and Uber then filed motions for relief from the Magistrate Judge’s orders in Waymo I and Waymo II, which the District Court denied. See Waymo LLC v. Uber Techs., Inc. (Waymo III), No. C 17-00939 WHA, 2017 WL 2694191, at *1 (N.D. Cal. June 21, 2017) (denying relief from the Magistrate Judge’s order in Waymo I); Waymo LLC v. Uber Techs., Inc. (Waymo IV), No. C 17-00939 WHA (N.D. Cal. June 27, 2017) (Appellant’s App. 15-20) (denying relief from the Magistrate Judge’s order in Waymo II). 2

Mr. Levandowski appeals the District Court’s denial of relief from the Magistrate Judge’s orders. Because Mr. Levan-dowski has failed to satisfy his burden to demonstrate entitlement to a writ of mandamus, we dismiss.

Jurisdiction

Before addressing the merits of the appeal, we must satisfy ourselves of our jurisdiction to receive and decide this petition for mandamus. See Ruhrgas AG v. Marathon Oil Co., 526 U.S. 574, 583, 119 S.Ct. 1563, 143 L.Ed.2d 760 (1999). We have jurisdiction over “appeal[s] from ... final decisions] of ... district court[s] of the United States ... in any civil action arising under ... any Act of Congress relating to patents.” 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(1) (2012). In accordance with the final-judgment rule, “a party may not take an appeal [pursuant to § 1295(a)(1)] until there has been a decision by the district court that ends the litigation on the merits and leaves nothing for the court to do but execute the judgment.” Robert Bosch, LLC v. Pylon Mfg. Corp., 719 F.3d 1305, 1308 (Fed. Cir. 2013) (en banc) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). 3 We also have jurisdiction over three categories of interlocutory orders from district courts: (1) those involving'injunctions, receiverships, or admiralty, 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a), (c)(1); (2) those certified for immediate appeal by the district court, id. § 1292(b), (c)(1); and (3) those involving patent infringement judgments that are final except for an accounting, 4 id. § 1292(c)(2).

Mr. Levandowski acknowledges that the District Court’s orders in Waymo III and Waymo IV are not appealable final judgments pursuant to § 1295(a)(1). Oral Arg. at 9:05-10, http://oralarguments.cafc. uscourts.gov/ default.aspx?fl=2017-2235.-mp3 (“Under the doctrine as I understand it, I don’t think [the orders] are final.”). He also acknowledges that those orders do not qualify as routinely appealable interlocutory orders. Id. at 9:22-55 (acknowledging that the District Court did not certify the orders pursuant to § 1292(b) and that the orders do not fall within the categories enumerated in §: 1292(a)(1)-(3), (c)(2)). Instead, Mr. Levandowski presents two theories of jurisdiction. .First, Mr. Levandowski requests that we treat his appeals from the District Court’s orders in Waymo III and Waymo. IV as petitions for writ of mandamus pursuant to 28 U.S..C. § 1651(a), asserting that the discovery orders from which he appeals will violate his Fifth Amendment right against, self-incrimination, and that the constitutional aspect, relating to an issue already under criminal investigation, warrants immediate review. See Appellant’s Br. 3. Second, Mr. Levandowski argues that he has an-immediate right to appeal the District Court’s order in Waymo IV because the “Perlman doctrine,” as set forth in Perlman v. United States, 247 U.S. 7, 38 S.Ct. 417, 62 L.Ed. 950 (1918), purportedly provides that “a third-party privilege holder may immediately appeal an order compelling a disinterested third party to produce privileged materials.” Appellant’s Br, 2. We address these arguments in turn.

I. Mr. Levandowski Has Not Established His Entitlement to a Writ of Mandamus, Although a Continuing Confidentiality Order May Be Supported

The common law writ of mandamus is codified at 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a), which provides that “all courts established by [an] Act of Congress may issue all writs necessary or appropriate in aid of their respective jurisdictions and agreeable to the usages and principles of law.” “[T]he writ of mandamus is an extraordinary remedy[ ] to be reserved for extraordinary situations.” Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. v. Mayacamas Corp., 485 U.S. 271, 289, 108 S.Ct. 1133, 99 L.Ed.2d 296 (1988). “The traditional use of the writ in aid of appellate jurisdiction both at common law and in the federal courts has been to confine the court against which mandamus is sought to a lawful exercise of its prescribed jurisdiction.” Cheney v. U.S. Dist. Court for D.C., 542 U.S. 367, 380, 124 S.Ct. 2576, 159 L.Ed.2d 459 (2004) (internal quotation marks, brackets, and.citation omitted).

The petitioner bears the burden of showing entitlement to a writ of mandamus. Gulfstream, 485 U.S. at 289, 108 S.Ct. 1133.

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Waymo LLC v. Uber Technologies, Inc., 870 F.3d 1350, 124 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1222, 2017 WL 4018406, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 17668 (Fed. Cir. 2017).

870 F.3d 1350 (Waymo LLC v. Uber Technologies, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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