When a third party funds and controls litigation in the name of a nominal plaintiff, the court's inquiry focuses on whether the arrangements have a tendency to produce an abuse of process, not on whether they constitute champerty or maintenance. A 'genuine commercial interest' under Trendtex must be rights-based, not a mere wish or hope. The absence of an indemnity from the funder for the defendant's costs, combined with the funder's control of the proceedings, creates a material tendency to abuse of process that warrants a conditional stay, because it removes the discipline of the usual costs rule from the entity actually controlling the litigation.
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