INTEX RECREATION CORP., Plaintiff/Counterclaim Defendant, v. TEAM WORLDWIDE CORPORATION, Defendant/Counterclaim Plaintiff., 471 F. Supp. 2d 11

Summary

Defendant alleged that the documents sought by plaintiff were privileged under the joint defense privilege, also known as the common interest rule, because defendant had entered into a common interest agreement in 2000 when the distributor agreed to market defendant's products. Plaintiff argued that defendant and the distributor did not engage in a coordinated legal strategy until they signed a common interest agreement in August 2005. The court held that (1) defendant and the distributor's 2000 marketing agreement concerned their business interests and did not involve litigation issues, and thus, that agreement did not establish that they had a common interest agreement as early as 2000; (2) in October 2004, defendant and the distributor sent nearly identical letters to plaintiff concerning plaintiff's alleged infringement of defendant's patent, and these letters evidenced defendant and the distributor's intent to enter into a coordinated legal strategy to enforce the patent; (3) the ...