Electronic discovery process using a blockchain

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10650476-B2
Application number	US-201715824044-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 28, 2017
Priority date	Nov 28, 2017
Publication date	May 12, 2020
Grant date	May 12, 2020

Abstract

The invention relates to a computer-implemented method for performing an electronic discovery process using a blockchain. For at least two of phases of the electronic discovery process individual electronic data processing tools are used for executing the respective phase. For each of the phases of the electronic discovery process metadata of the electronic data objects subject to the respective phase of the electronic discovery process and to the electronic data processing tool used for executing the respective phase are stored in the blockchain. Furthermore, audit information about auditable actions carried out during the respective phase by the electronic data processing tool used for executing the respective phase on the electronic data objects is stored in the blockchain. The stored audit information provides an end-to-end audit trail for each of the electronic data objects subject to at least one of the phases of the electronic discovery process.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for performing an electronic discovery process for providing evidence in form of electronic data objects using a blockchain, the electronic discovery process comprising a plurality of phases and for at least two of the phases individual electronic data processing tools being used for executing the respective phase, each of the individual electronic data processing tools being dedicated to an individual one of the at least two phases, the method comprising for each of the phases of the electronic discovery process:
storing metadata of the electronic data objects being subject to the respective phase of the electronic discovery process and to the electronic data processing tool used for executing the respective phase in the blockchain,
storing audit information about auditable actions carried out during the respective phase by the electronic data processing tool used for executing the respective phase on the electronic data objects in the blockchain,

the stored audit information providing an end-to-end audit trail for each of the electronic data objects subject to at least one of the phases of the electronic discovery process.

2. The method of claim 1 , for each of the electronic data processing tools the method further comprising: storing results of the execution of the respective electronic data processing tools in the blockchain.

3. The method of claim 2 , the storing of the results comprising storing resulting electronic data objects or references to the respective resulting electronic data objects in the blockchain.

4. The method of claim 2 , the method further comprising for each phase of the electronic discovery process preceded by another one of the phases of the electronic discovery process
accessing at the beginning of the respective phase the results of the respective preceding phase provided in the blockchain.

5. The method of claim 1 , the blockchain providing a data processing lineage for each of the electronic data objects.

6. The method of claim 1 , using for each of the phases of the electronic discovery process an individual electronic data processing tool and each of the electronic data processing tools being dedicated to an individual one of the phases.

7. The method of claim 1 , the blockchain comprising computer-readable program code, execution of the computer-readable program code by one of the individual electronic data processing tools causing the individual electronic data processing tool to store the audit information about auditable actions carried out by the respective individual electronic data processing tool in the blockchain.

8. The method of claim 1 , each of the electronic data processing tool while being executed checking the blockchain for new entries.

9. The method of claim 8 , the access to the electronic data object via the download address being cryptographically restricted.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a requirement for a cross-electronic data processing tool notification based on auditable actions documented in the blockchain,
in response to determining the respective requirement, initiating the cross-electronic data processing tool notification.

11. The method of claim 1 , the metadata of the electronic data objects stored in the blockchain comprising at least one of the following: name, hash, signature and locator of the respective electronic data object.

12. The method of claim 1 , the metadata further comprising a download address from which the respective electronic data object can be downloaded.

13. The method of claim 1 , the audit information about auditable actions carried out on the electronic data objects comprising at least one of the following: creation, modification, and deletion of the respective electronic data object.

14. The method of claim 1 , the electronic data objects comprising at least one of the following: email, instant message, text document, drawing, graph, chart, photograph, sound recording, video recording.

15. The method of claim 1 , read access to data and information assigned to a group of the electronic data objects and stored in the blockchain being cryptographically restricted.

16. The method of claim 1 , the blockchain comprising a definition of the scope of the electronic discovery process, an amendment of the scope of the electronic discovery requiring an approval by each of the parties involved in the electronic discovery process.

17. The method of claim 1 , the electronic discovery process comprising the phases of identification, preservation, collection, processing, review, analysis, and production of the electronic data objects.

18. The method of claim 1 , the blockchain being distributed over a plurality of computer systems of participants of the electronic discovery process, each of the computer systems storing a copy of the blockchain.

19. A computer program product comprising a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied therewith, the computer-readable program code being configured to implement the following for each phase of an electronic discovery process for providing evidence in form of electronic data objects using a blockchain, the electronic discovery process comprising a plurality of the phases and for at least two of the phases individual electronic data processing tools being used for executing the respective phase, each of the individual electronic data processing tools being dedicated to an individual one of the at least two phases, when being executed by a computer system:
storing metadata of the electronic data objects being subject to the respective phase of the electronic discovery process and to the electronic data processing tool used for executing the respective phase in the blockchain,
storing audit information about auditable actions carried out during the respective phase by the electronic data processing tool used for executing the respective phase on the electronic data objects in the blockchain,

the stored audit information providing an end-to-end audit trail for each of the electronic data objects subject to at least one of the phases of the electronic discovery process.

20. A computer system for performing an electronic discovery process for providing evidence in form of electronic data objects using a blockchain, the electronic discovery process comprising a plurality of phases and for at least two of the phases individual electronic data processing tools being used for executing the respective phase, each of the individual electronic data processing tools being dedicated to an individual one of the at least two phases, the computer system being configured for each of the phases of the electronic discovery process to:
store metadata of the electronic data objects being subject to the respective phase of the electronic discovery process and to the electronic data processing tool used for executing the respective phase in the blockchain,
store audit information about auditable actions carried out during the respective phase by the electronic data processing tool used for executing the respective phase on the electronic data objects in the blockchain,

the stored audit information providing an end-to-end audit trail for each of the electronic data objects subject to at least one of the phases of the electronic discovery process.

Assignees

• IBM
• Int Bussiness Machines Corporation

Inventors

• Bässler Michael
• Hampp Thomas
• Hoffmann Philipp
• Lebutsch David
• Pittner Daniel

Classifications

• G06Q50/18 Primary

  Legal services · CPC title

• G06F16/27

  Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor · CPC title