Roblox Corporation v. WowWee Group Limited

Background

The court addressed several joint discovery disputes. Discovery is the pretrial exchange of information and documents relevant to the claims and defenses. The disputes involved requests by Roblox Corporation and the other plaintiffs, and by WowWee Group Limited and the other defendants.

Rulings on plaintiffs’ requests

The court ordered defendants to produce responsive, non-privileged documents concerning the conception, design, and development of the dolls at issue without limiting production to particular avatars or products. The court concluded that the limitation could exclude relevant documents, including documents discussing copying Roblox’s avatars without naming a specific work.

The court also ordered defendants to produce documents concerning the redeemable code advertised with the dolls and any online game or experience intended to accompany them. If plaintiffs believed other related products were relevant, they had to identify those products.

For advertising, promotion, and distribution, the court ordered defendants to produce all responsive, non-privileged documents, rather than only formal marketing plans, public press releases, and public advertisements. The court ordered production of sales-data documents concerning the MyAvastars.com website but did not order production of website-traffic documents.

The court ordered defendants to produce all responsive, non-privileged documents concerning Roblox and its intellectual property, as well as documents related to allegations of copyright infringement against defendants. For additional requests concerning the action, the court found defendants’ objections to Request for Production Nos. 37, 40, and 41 appropriate. For Request No. 39, it ordered production of responsive, non-privileged annual reports related to Roblox, Roblox copyrights, Roblox trademarks, or the action, but not other annual reports. For Requests Nos. 38, 46, and 48–50, it ordered production of all responsive, non-privileged documents.

Rulings on defendants’ requests

The court ordered plaintiffs to produce all responsive, non-privileged documents concerning the conception, design, and development of the Roblox avatar bases and avatars, without a time limitation. It also ordered plaintiffs to produce responsive, non-privileged documents concerning LEGO or Minecraft that also related to the Roblox avatars or Jazwares toys.

For documents concerning plaintiffs’ alleged damages, the court ordered plaintiffs to produce responsive documents in their custody, possession, or control. If plaintiffs had no such documents, they had to state that under oath.

The court found documents concerning Roblox’s updated Terms of Use relevant to defendants’ arguments about those updates and ordered plaintiffs to produce all responsive, non-privileged documents. The court also ordered both sides to produce documents in the form specified by their electronic-discovery agreement unless they agreed to another form.

Peter Yanofsky custodian request

Plaintiffs asked the court to require defendants to add Peter Yanofsky as a custodian, meaning a person whose documents would be searched and collected. The opinion states that Yanofsky was the President of Gramps Goods, a Director of WowWee Group Limited, and the President, Secretary, and Director of WowWee USA. Defendants argued that he lacked meaningful involvement with the My Avastars products and that other custodians had relevant knowledge.

The court denied plaintiffs’ request. It held that plaintiffs had not shown that Yanofsky had relevant information, much less information that could not be obtained through the other custodians. The court stated that speculation that he must have relevant information was insufficient to show good cause.

Discovery deadline

The court stated that if the parties could not complete the required discovery before the September 13, 2023 close of fact discovery, they could request a change to the discovery deadlines. Judge Susan Illston signed the order on August 25, 2023.