4 Answers

A subpoena is a court-issued command for an individual or corporate representative to appear before the court or to provide specific evidence. Failure to comply with a subpoena without good reason can result in contempt-of-court charges. Legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Actand the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations stipulate how information must be handled and how long it must be retained.Learn

Subpoenas are frequently issued for stored or archived data such as e-mail or instant messaging correspondence. For example, if a corporate executive is accused of insider trading, a subpoena may demand all e-mail messages sent and received during a specific time frame. If the executive can not produce these records, the court may issue a subpoena to any Internet Service Provider ( ISP ) handling his Internet access account(s). Subpoenas may also be directed at people with whom the accused individual regularly corresponds.

E-mail messages should be considered business records and stored accordingly. Meticulous e-mail archiving (also called e-mail retention), like the retention of tax records, has become an essential part of the record-keeping routine for all businesses.

subpoena is a written issued by a court justice for someone to appear at court at specifice time. Hope this helps

 Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online

legally you are summoned to appear at court ,a witness.