Morningware, Inc. v. Hearthware Home Products, Inc., No. 09 C 4348, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Oct. 6, 2011) (St. Eve, J.).
Judge St. Eve granted plaintiff/counter-defendant Morningware’s motion to compel production from third party SKE in this patent and Lanham Act suit regarding convection ovens. SKE had an agreement with defendant/counter-plaintiff Hearthware that restricted SKE’s ability to disclose Hearthware’s confidential documents. The Court ordered SKE to produce the documents directly to Morningware, denying Hearthware’s request to review the documents for confidentiality first. The Court noted that Morningware’s agreement to initially treat all of SKE’s documents as Highly Confidential resolved confidentiality concerns.