E-Discovery in U.S. Lawsuits and Enterprise Information Management

Abstract

Electronic discovery, as defined by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which were revised in 2006, is conducted mainly in lawsuits where the points at issues are product liability or intellectual property infringements. Based on the analysis of relevant cases that implemented e-discovery, this paper includes a discussion of the companies' workflow and daily operations to prepare for the e-discovery process. To avoid court-imposed penalties for breaching e-discovery rules, enterprises should not make willful deletions or alterations of digital data, such as the disposition of evidence after a litigation hold order. For numerous Japanese companies that have business relations with US companies, managing digital documents becomes a critical concern.