Brandt
Brandt v. nVidia Corp. (In re 3dfx Interactive, Inc.)
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Grube, J.
ORDER RE MOTION TO COMPEL PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS (CRIME FRAUD)
On March 2, 2006, the court heard Trustee’s motion to compel the production of documents based on the crime-fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege. The court has considered the papers filed and the arguments presented at the hearing. For the reasons stated below, the court denies the motion in part and grants the motion in part.
I. BACKGROUND
Debtor 3dfx and nVidia were competitors in the field of 3D graphics processor chips. In 1998 3dfx filed a patent infringement lawsuit against nVidia. In October 2000, 3dfx received a ruling adopting 3dfx’s claimed construction of the patent and rejecting nVidia’s construction. Within weeks, nVidia initiated negotiations to purchase 3dfx’s graphics chip business. At the time of the asset purchase negotiations, the parties expected 3dfx to run out of cash in early 2001.
nVidia’s opening offer to 3dfx was $100 million in eash.3dfx countered with $100 million in cash and one million shares of nVidia stock. The parties ultimately agreed that nVidia would pay $70 million to 3dfx for the business — $15 million at the time the deal was signed as a bridge loan and $55…