When a company or an individual is faced with a crisis, such as
a scandal, a government investigation or criminal charges, the
first call is likely to be to the lawyers, and the next call,
either from the lawyers or the company/individual, could be to a
public relations firm. However, will communications between the
client or the attorneys and the PR firm be protected as
confidential by the attorney-client privilege?
In the recent California case of Stardock Systems Inc. v. Ford
et al (11-30-2018), the plaintiff, Stardock, sued the defendants
for infringing its intellectual property for its videogame. The
defendants claimed that the plaintiff engaged in a PR war against
them, consisting of hundreds of posts to online forums and social
media platforms which "blatantly misrepresented the facts and
seek to sway public opinion in favor of Stardock and its game while
casting a shadow over the defendants and their game thereby forcing
them to settle this case." In response,
