A plaintiff in a trademark infringement case has been sanctioned for withholding emails that could hurt its claim that it notified and instructed a defendant to cease and desist.

Southern District Magistrate Judge James Francis said the duplicate emails from plaintiff CAT3, which were found during discovery and purportedly put defendant Black Lineage Inc. on notice it was infringing on CATs' trademark, were evidence of bad faith.

The judge said the dispute in CAT3 v. Black Lineage, 14 Civ. 5511, raised “significant issues concerning the reach of newly amended Rule 37(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the standard of proof governing spoliation, and the relief appropriate for the destruction of electronically stored information (ESI).”