Federal Circuit Defines Framework For Pre-Suit Spoliation Inquiry

In Micron Technology v. Rambus, 2009-1263 (Fed. Cir., May 13, 2011), and its companion decision, Hynix v. Rambus, Nos. 2009-1299, -1347(Fed. Cir. May 13, 2011), the Federal Circuit defined a framework for determining when a litigation has become "reasonably foreseeable," thereby giving rise to a duty to preserve documents. The Federal Circuit also discussed how to determine whether a dispositive sanction is appropriate against a spoliator.

I. Background

In 1996, Rambus offered licenses under patent properties covering Rambus's Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM) to Micron, Intel and other chip manufacturers. Toward the end of 1999, manufacturing delays caused Intel to move to an SDRAM (synchronous DRAM) platform not covered by the licenses but believed by Rambus to be covered by the patent properties. In 2000, Rambus initiated infringement suits against SDRAM manufacturers, and Micron initiated the declaratory judgment action.