Interesting disagreement in the MDL litigation, In re OpenAI Copyright Infringement Litigation, over the number of hours the plaintiffs should get for the depositions of OpenAI witnesses. One of the greatest efficiencies of MDL Litigation is the streamlining of depositions and avoidance of repetitive depositions of the same witness.
Plaintiffs want 255 hours, not including the 58 hours already taken.
By contrast, OpenAI is asking Magistrate Judge Wang to set the limit at 105 hours for the class action plaintiffs (including depositions of OpenAI witnesses already taken) and 150 hours for the news plaintiffs, for a total of 255 hours, including the 58 hours already taken.
OpenAI pointed out that the plaintiffs (in some cases) have been asking totally irrelevant questions:
My favorite is the question about James Joyce novels. Not sure the context in which that question was raised — or what the answer was. Perhaps Exiles?
The parties have reached agreement on most of the deposition protocol as depicted in a chart submitted as Exhibit 2, part of which is excerpted below and the entirety of which follows:
DOWNLOAD EXHIBIT 2 SHOWING PARTIES DEPOSITION PROTOCOL POSITIONS
DOWNLOAD OPENAI’S LETTER TO MAGISTRATE JUDGE WANG