A U.S. District Court judge this week ruled that Silicon Knights will have to pay Midway a small amount of the costs related to a subpoena of documents in the Silicon Knights vs. Epic Games suit.

Judge Sidney Schenkier ordered Silicon Knights to pay Midway up to $17K for costs related to Midway's review of documents pertaining to UE3. Midway would be responsible to pay for anything beyond that amount.

A rep for Silicon Knights called the ordered amount a "relatively modest contribution."

Silicon Knights subpoenaed Midway for records relating to Epic's UE3 in 2008. Midway has used UE3 across its portfolio of games this generation.

But in mid-March this year, Midway requested that a court order Silicon Knights to pay all costs related to the document review. The Mortal Kombat publisher, which said it was a disinterested third-party involved in the suit, expressed concern that having declared bankruptcy in February, it wasn't in a position to pay such costs.

Midway's creditors had approved the company to spend $35K per month over a three month period on the UE3 document review.

Silicon Knights filed suit against Gears of War developer Epic in July 2007, accusing Epic of fraud, breach of contract and other claims. Silicon Knights had been using UE3 for development of the Xbox 360 RPG Too Human. The plaintiff hopes to find evidence supporting wrongdoing on Epic's part in the subpoenaed Midway documents.

The judge also granted Midway's request to review and redact UE3 documents that may compromise trade secrets. The publisher had previously said it didn't want competitor Silicon Knights to have access to sensitive information contained within the documents.

The judge said Midway is to begin producing the UE3 documents for Silicon Knights by April 17, and to continue on a "rolling basis."

A status meeting is scheduled for April 28.