I was down in Argentina earlier this month and had the opportunity to do some fishing for a fish known as the Golden Dorado (a.k.a., ‘El Tigre del Rio’). While I was a patent attorney literally on a fishing expedition, it was not the same type that the Federal Circuit was referring to in Monarch Assur. PLC v. US, 244 F.3d 1356 (Fed. Cir. 2001):
Having said that, we wish to make clear to plaintiffs and their counsel that the trial court is not expected to, nor should it, simply allow plaintiffs to embark on a wide-ranging fishing expedition in hopes that there may be gold out there somewhere, or worse, in hopes that the Government will get tired of litigating and settle an otherwise unprovable case.
Monarch Assur. PLC v. US, 244 F.3d 1356, 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2001).
