When Discovery Clashes with Privacy Law

Allowing too much business information to accumulate can cause problems. Defendants prefer them, while patent owners seek compensation for willful future infringement.

No matter the industry or market sector, increasingly robust data-analytic platforms offer business decision-makers new, quantifiable insights into the factors that motivate customers and consumers. At the same time, however, concerns about data misuse have led to a complex set of laws and regulations that impose limits on how businesses treat certain kinds of personal information, known as personally identifiable information (PII).