Few areas of litigation showcase greater disparity between the relative burdens experienced by plaintiff and defendant than certain types of patent infringement cases. All that is needed to assert a claim of patent infringement is ownership of a patent and a plausible allegation of infringement and validity. Indeed, many patent infringement lawsuits today are filed by patent assertion entities (PAE), which exist solely to monetize the value of patents within their portfolios through licensing and litigation.1 These entities often have very few relevant documents apart from the patent, prosecution history, and chain of title. By contrast, the accused infringers may have hundreds of thousands–or even millions–of relevant documents regarding their products or processes accused of infringement.

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