DOUGLAS F. McCORMICK, Magistrate Judge.
Defendant maintains that discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, proprietary or private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles.
In accordance with Fed. R. Civ. Proc. Rule 26(c), good cause exists for entry of this Order. Defendant believes this action is likely to involve trade secrets and other valuable research, development, commercial, financial, technical and/or proprietary information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecution of this action is warranted. Defendant believes such information includes trade secret or proprietary information regarding the manufacturing process and composition of the Pura D'Or Gold Label Anti-Hair Loss Shampoo (the "Shampoo") at issue in this litigation, as well as confidential business or financial information including information showing sales, costs, profits, and sales or marketing strategies. As this action progresses, the parties may determine that discovery calls for the disclosure of additional types of information that one or both parties believe is confidential. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over the confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of the litigation, and to serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that information will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause for the designation.
The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 11.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Local Civil Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal.
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.7
2.8
2.9
2.10
2.11
2.12
2.13
2.14
2.15
The protections conferred by this Order cover not only Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. However, the protections conferred by this Order do not cover the following information: (a) any information that is in the public domain at the time of disclosure to a Receiving Party or becomes part of the public domain after its disclosure to a Receiving Party as a result of publication not involving a violation of this Order, including becoming part of the public record through trial or otherwise; and (b) any information known to the Receiving Party prior to the disclosure or obtained by the Receiving Party after the disclosure from a source who obtained the information lawfully and under no obligation of confidentiality to the Designating Party. Further, the protections conferred by this Order apply only to Disclosure or Discovery Material and to court filings that might reveal Protected Material, and do not apply to evidence presented at any court hearings or proceedings. The parties agree not to disclose another party's Protected Material during court hearings or proceedings without prior written consent, consent on the record in Court, or a Court order providing the same protections provided by this Order. Any such use of Protected Material shall be governed by a separate order from the judicial officer conducting the hearing or proceeding, at the appropriate time. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial.
4.1
If it comes to a Designating Party's attention that information or items that it designated for protection do not qualify for protection at all or do not qualify for the level of protection initially asserted, that Designating Party must promptly notify all other Parties, in writing, that it is withdrawing the mistaken designation.
4.2
(a)
A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents or materials available for inspection need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated which material it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be deemed "HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' AND EXPERTS' EYES ONLY." After the inspecting Party has identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the appropriate legend ("CONFIDENTIAL," or "HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' OR EXPERTS' EYES ONLY") to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins) and must specify, for each portion, the level of protection being asserted.
(b)
Transcripts containing Protected Material shall have an obvious legend on the title page that the transcript contains Protected Material, and the title page shall be followed by a list of all pages (including line numbers as appropriate) that have been designated as Protected Material and the level of protection being asserted by the Designating Party. The Designating Party shall inform the court reporter of these requirements. Unless agreed otherwise by the parties, any transcript that is prepared before the expiration of a 21-day period for designation shall be treated during that period as if it had been designated "CONFIDENTIAL" unless a party requests on the record or in writing that the "HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' AND EXPERTS' EYES ONLY" designation apply during that period. After the expiration of that period, the transcript shall be treated only as actually designated.
(c)
4.2
5.1
5.2
5.3
The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the Designating Party. Unless the Designating Party has waived the confidentiality designation by failing to timely serve its portion of the joint stipulation related to retaining confidentiality as described above, all parties shall continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing Party's designation until the Court rules on the challenge.
6.1
Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized under this Order.
6.2
(a) the Receiving Party's Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record;
(b) up to two officers, directors, or employees of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the "Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound" (Exhibit A);
(c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the "Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound" (Exhibit A);
(d) the Court and its personnel;
(e) court reporters and their staff, professional jury or trial consultants, and Professional Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the "Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound" (Exhibit A);
(f) during their depositions, witnesses for the Producing Party in the Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary and who have signed the "Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound" (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the Court. Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material must be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and
(g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information.
6.3
(a) the Receiving Party's Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the information for this action;
(b) Experts of the Receiving Party (1) to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and (2) who have signed the "Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound" (Exhibit A);
(c) the Court and its personnel;
(d) court reporters and their staff, professional jury or trial consultants, and Professional Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the "Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound" (Exhibit A);
(e) during their depositions, witnesses for Producing Party in the action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary and who have signed the "Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound" (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the Court. Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material must be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and
(f) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information.
If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as "CONFIDENTIAL," "HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' AND EXPERTS' EYES ONLY" that Party must:
(a) promptly notify in writing Outside Counsel for the Designating Party. Such notification shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order;
(b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and
(c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected.
The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court of its confidential material — and nothing in these provisions should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful subpoena issued in another action.
(a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non-Party in this Action and designated as "CONFIDENTIAL," or "HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' AND EXPERTS' EYES ONLY." Such information produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections.
(b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce a Non-Party's confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party's confidential information, then the Party shall:
1. promptly notify in writing Outside Counsel for the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a Non-Party;
2. promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Order in this litigation, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific description of the information requested; and
3. make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-Party.
(c) If the Non-Party fails to object or seek a protective order from this Court within 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may produce the Non-Party's confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the Court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in this Court of its Protected Material.
If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing Outside Counsel for the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the "Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound" that is attached hereto as Exhibit A.
10.1
If a Receiving Party believes that a that a document or information that it received is subject to the attorney client privilege or the work-product doctrine, the Receiving Party shall immediately notify the Producing Party of its belief that it received privileged or otherwise protected material, and the Producing Party will immediately inform the Receiving Party whether it asserts the document is privileged. In the event that the Receiving Party disputes the Producing Party's claim of attorney client privilege or work product doctrine protection, after being notified, the Receiving Party must promptly return, sequester, or destroy the specified information and any copies it has; must not use or disclose the information until the claim is resolved (except for in connection with motion practice related to whether or not to document is privilege); must take reasonable steps to retrieve the information if the party disclosed it before being notified; and may promptly present the information to the court under seal for a determination of the claim. The Producing Party must preserve the information until the claim is resolved.
11.1
11.2
11.3
11.4
After the final disposition of this Action, upon written request each Receiving Party and its Counsel, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. Such materials shall be returned or destroyed within 60 days of receipt of such written request. As used in this subdivision, "all Protected Material" includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that all Protected Material that was returned or destroyed. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Order.
Any violation of this Order may be punished by appropriate measures including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions.
IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.
FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, _____________________________ [print or type full name], of ___________________________________________ [print or type full address], declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and understand the Protective Order ("Order") that was issued by the United States District Court for the Central District of California on _______ [date] in the case of Elbaz v. Vital's International Group dba Pura D'Or, Case No. 8:17-cv-01673 JLS (DFMx). I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this Order, and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject to this Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this Order.
I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this Action.
I hereby appoint __________________________ [print or type full name] of _______________________________________ [print or type full address and telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection with this Action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Order.