http://ow.ly/7J0KF
An article by Joshua Gilliland, Esq. posted on his blog, Bow Tie Law.
This article discusses the concept of cost sharing for an eDiscovery review platform, as well as the possibility that cost-shifting will be sought at the conclusion of a case.
The article states, "In a patent dispute, the parties agreed to use a online review platform for the production of email and to share the costs. The prevailing party in the lawsuit won on having their hosting costs of $234,702.43 shifted to the opposing party. The losing party appealed and the Court of Appeals reversed the cost-shifting award.Synopsys, Inc. v. Ricoh Co. (In re Ricoh Co.),2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 23495, 9-12 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 23, 2011)."
The review platform was used for production, and taxes were held to be applicable to the database. In addition, the Court found that the costs should not be awarded, since there was a prevailing cost sharing agreement in place between the parties for the hosting costs.
The article states, "It is good that courts recognize hosting fees for an online review platform as recoverable costs. This opinion puts parties and service providers on notice to watch out for the terms in a shared hosting agreement. If there is a possibility a party may seek costs for a shared hosted review database, a clause should be put into the agreement about cost-shifting for a prevailing party. This should be a Rule 26(f) meet and confer topic if a shared-hosting platform is being considered."
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