Vanilla Chip, LLC v. NoGenetics.com, 3:23-cv-02276

Vanilla Chip, LLC (dba TruHeight) sued NoGenetics.com, VOX Nutrition, Inc., On Demand Fulfillment, LLC, and Does 1-10 for trademark and copyright infringement, alleging the sale and distribution of counterfeit TruHeight products.
Plaintiff claims that VOX manufactures these products, On Demand affixes labels and ships them, and that both have identifying information about NoGenetics.com.
Plaintiff sought expedited discovery prior to the Rule 26(f) conference, to obtain this information for purposes of planning discovery and the case.
No formal discovery had commenced because defendants have not yet answered or responded to the First Amended Complaint.
Plaintiff also sought an extension for defendants’ time to respond, indicating some ongoing cooperation and information sharing.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether expedited discovery is warranted before 26(f)	Narrowly tailored request is necessary to identify NoGenetics.com, minimal burden	Not fully stated; referenced cooperation	Denied; good cause not shown, no urgency or narrow scope
Whether discovery request is sufficiently specific	Information needed includes business, payment, and contact info	Discovery request is overbroad	Denied; scope and details not properly in the record
Whether lack of preliminary injunction affects urgency	Urgency argued due to prejudice in planning discovery	No pending injunction reduces urgency	Denied; no PI motion, lessens need for early discovery
Effect of ongoing cooperation and extension of answer	Not directly argued, but implied need for information	Cooperation ongoing, extension sought	Denied; cooperation and delay undercut need for remedy

Semitool, Inc. v. Tokyo Electron Am., Inc., 208 F.R.D. 273 (N.D. Cal. 2002) (Good cause standard for evaluating requests for expedited discovery)
Am. LegalNet, Inc. v. Davis, 673 F. Supp. 2d 1063 (C.D. Cal. 2009) (Factors for assessing reasonableness of expedited discovery request)