http://ia601803.us.archive.org/33/items/gov.uscourts.ksd.97083/gov.uscourts.ksd.97083.73.1.pdfPlaintiffs argue that BF Labs is being evasive and can answer this interrogatory. But as
mentioned last Friday, BF Labs does not maintain records regarding the amount of products it
manufactured by month. Therefore the information you request does not exist. See answer to
IROG No. 6 where BF Labs states [g]iven the use of the preorder sales model, the vast majority
of FPGA and 65 NM products were ordered by customers prior to manufacture and the daily
focus was on producing at maximum output and shipping as quickly as possible to fulfill the
demand from pre-existing orders. For those same reasons, BF Labs does not maintain data to
identify the number of units shipped to consumers by month and year. BF Labs has provided
Exhibits A and B which provide order dates and status, but cannot produce documents that do
not exist as its obligation is to preserve and produce what exists. We have recently learned that
there is a spreadsheet that exists that contains 81 different customers whose order status was
excluded from Exhibit B for a few different reasons (e.g., pending acceptance of a different
product, attempted to deliver the product but it was returned and BF Labs was unable to contact
the customer, a lawsuit was filed, or demand letter sent). We will supplement IROG No. 5 and
provide this exhibit in both native and pdf format.
IRS: Okay, Mr. DoughnutGuy, is this your first audit?
Mr. DoughnutGuy: Yes, I hope I'm not in too much trouble.
IRS: As long as you kept records, you'll be fine. Now, how many chocolate donuts did you make on July 30, 2012?
Mr. DoughnutGuy: Here's the records for that day. It looks like 514. Sold 498.
IRS: How many apple fritters did you make on my wife's birthday, February 12, 2013?
Mr. DoughnutGuy: Here you go. I made 388 fritters that day. Normally, we do over 500, but the fritter-fritter shipment had yet to arrive.
IRS: Makes sense. And, how many cinnamon rolls did you make on March 12, 2014?
Mr. DoughnutGuy: With or without sugar?
IRS: With.
Mr. DoughnutGuy: 712, as seen here on this report. It's are biggest seller.
IRS: You may go. Everything seems to be in order.
IRS: Okay, BFL, how many miners did you deliver on April 24, 2014?
BFL: You're kidding, right?
IRS: Hey, Joe, come in here. Looks like we got us a good one today.
Joe: No records?
IRS: BINGO!
BF Labs stands by its objection and answer and acknowledges the parties are unable to
come to any agreement. If a statement was publicly made then Plaintiffs have access to it. BF
Labs will, however, supplement its answer by directing Plaintiffs to blogs that Plaintiffs may be
able to search for comments related to estimated shipping dates. Further, as mentioned in its
answer to Plaintiffs interrogatory, BF Labs considered a multitude of different factors when
making representations about estimated shipping dates. To expect that BF Labs could catalogue
all of them is not realistic and would certainly result in undue burden. For instance, see BF Labs
answer to IROG No. 3 listing the numerous component manufacturers that have provided parts
to BF Labs. There is no way BF Labs has or could catalog every issue it has had with each
manufacturer.
IRS: So, we're going to try this one more time. How many miners did you deliver on April 24, 2014?
BFL: I give! The answer can be obtained by searching our blog and other online presence.
IRS: That's funny. It was your online presence that caused this audit in the first place.
BFL: Is anybody gonna eat that doughnut? I know a free-range chicken that'll love to have it.