On April 21, 2025, Patterson Belknap obtained a significant victory for our client, Gilead Sciences Inc., when the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York granted the firm’s motion to enforce a non-party subpoena against a law firm representing an alleged distributor of counterfeit Gilead-branded HIV medicines. After meeting its burden to obtain preliminary injunctive relief against this defendant—including an asset freeze and accounting of profits--earlier in the case, Gilead sought hard evidence to back up the defendant’s claim that she made virtually no money from her alleged role running a pharmacy caught selling counterfeits. After she refused, Gilead served a number of third-party subpoenas seeking to understand the source of this Defendant’s wealth. One such subpoena was directed to her lawyers, seeking information about who is paying their fees and the amounts and dates of those payments. After they refused on several grounds, Gilead moved to compel. In its opinion, the Court ordered the law firm to produce all of the payment information that Gilead requested. 

The Court held that this payment information was both not privileged and relevant to Gilead’s damages claims because it was probative as to the defendant’s profits from her participation in the conspiracy. This decision is a powerful precedent for prosecuting civil anticounterfeiting cases. Counterfeiting defendants often assert as a defense that they made few profits, but refuse to disclose how they pay their counsel. This decision enables plaintiffs to obtain the details of a defendant’s payments to defense counsel when there is a dispute over the amount of profits the defendant made from distributing counterfeit goods. 

To read the Court’s order, please click here.