Tellabs Ops., Inc. v. Fujitsu Ltd., No. 08 C 3379 & 09 C 4530, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Aug. 29, 2012) (Cole, Mag. J.).

Judge Cole, after an evidentiary hearing, ordered Fujitsu to produce all documents related to an extensive inspection of plaintiff Tellabs’ optical scanner in this patent case.  Fujitsu claimed that certain reports related to the inspection were privileged, but Fujitsu’s expert report stated that the expert had reviewed those report.  Fujitsu and its expert argued that the expert’s statements about reviewing the reports were erroneous.  While the expert had received the reports, he thought they were other documents and put them in a pile without ever reading them.  Regardless of whether the expert and counsel remembered the facts correctly, the story was improbable.  The Court did not believe that an “eminent” professor who was acutely aware of the need for accuracy could mistakenly misstate what he had reviewed twice.  Because the Court held that the expert had considered the reports, any privilege that may have attached to them was waived.