Identifying and redacting privileged information
AssigneeGoogle Inc.
InventorsPamela H. Davis, Theresa Hughes Beaumont, Shailesh Kumar
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods for identifying and redacting privileged information automatically in electronic discovery documents such as emails are disclosed. In reviewing documents for discovery review, some documents have both privileged and non-privileged information. Significant cost savings are achieved in conducting electronic discovery by automatically identifying and redacting privileged content while preserving non-privileged information for production.
Claims17
A method for redacting privileged information from an email thread, comprising:
- identifying a set of email threads containing one or more potentially privileged emails;
- locating a particular email thread in the set of email threads containing correspondence with a non-privileged party;
- when the correspondence with the non-privileged party is a last-in-time email, marking the email thread as non-privileged;
- and
- when the correspondence with the non-privileged party is not the last-in-time email, automatically redacting emails from the email thread that are later in time than the correspondence with the non-privileged party.
A method for redacting privileged information from an email thread, comprising:
- identifying a set of email threads containing one or more potentially privileged emails;
- locating a particular email thread in the set of email threads containing correspondence with a privileged party;
- and
- when the correspondence with the privileged party is not the last-in-time email, automatically redacting emails from the email thread that are later in time than the correspondence with the privileged party, including the correspondence with the privileged party.
A computer implemented method for redacting, at a server, privileged information from an email thread, the method comprising:
- receiving, at the server, an email thread containing potentially privileged information;
- searching the email thread for an adverse party in a last-in-time communication;
- searching the email thread for an adverse party not in the last-in-time communication;
- searching the email thread for an attorney in the last-in-time communication;
- searching the email thread for an attorney not in the last-in-time communication;
- determining a portion of the email thread that is privileged;
- and
- automatically redacting the portion of the email thread that is privileged.
A computer-based system for redacting privileged information from an email thread, comprising:
- one or more processors;
- one or more repositories configured to store at least one of responsive documents, privileged parties, adverse parties, or privilege terms;
- a privilege determination module implemented on at least one of the processors that when executed by the at least one, processor receives a selected one of the responsive documents and to determine whether the selected one of the responsive documents is privileged based on the presence of at least one of the privileged parties, adverse parties, or privileged terms;
- and
- an output module configured to redact portions of the selected responsive document based on the privilege determination of the privilege determination module.
A tangible computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer program logic recorded thereon that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to:
- identify a set of email threads containing one or more potentially privileged emails;
- locate a particular email thread in the set of email threads containing correspondence with a non-privileged party;
- when the correspondence with the non-privileged party is a last-in-time email, mark the email thread as non-privileged;
- and
- when the correspondence with the non-privileged party is not the last-m-time email, automatically redact emails from the email thread that are later in time than the correspondence with the non-privileged party.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.