MORRISON C. ENGLAND, Jr., Chief District Judge.
1. In connection with discovery proceedings in this action, the parties may designate any document, thing, material, testimony or other information derived therefrom, as "Confidential" under the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order (hereinafter "Order"). Confidential information is information which has not been made public and which concerns or relates to Defendants' business operations and contractual relationships, certain of which may be of a sensitive, confidential, have proprietary character, may constitute or contain trade secrets, financial information or other confidential research development or commercial information ("Confidential Information"). By designating a document, thing, material, testimony or other information derived therefrom as "confidential," under the terms of this order, the party making the designation is certifying to the court that there is a good faith basis both in law and in fact for the designation within the meaning of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(g).
2. Confidential documents shall be so designated by stamping copies of the document produced to a party with the legend "CONFIDENTIAL." Stamping the legend `CONFIDENTIAL" on the cover of any multipage document shall designate all pages of the document as confidential, unless otherwise indicated by the producing party.
3. Testimony taken at a deposition, conference, hearing or trial may be designated as confidential by making a statement to that effect on the record at the deposition or other proceeding. Arrangements shall be made with the court reporter taking and transcribing such proceeding to separately bind such portions of the transcript containing information designated as confidential, and to label such portions appropriately.
4. Material designated as confidential under this Order, the information contained therein, and any summaries, copies, abstracts, or other documents derived in whole or in part from material designated confidential (hereinafter "Confidential Material") shall be used only for the purpose of the prosecution, defense, or settlement of this action, and for no other purpose.
5. Confidential Material produced pursuant to this Order may be disclosed or made available only to the Court, to retained counsel and corporate counsel for a party (including the paralegal, clerical, and secretarial staff employed by such counsel), and to the "qualified persons" designated below:
Prior to receiving any Confidential Material, each "qualified person" shall be provided with a copy of this Order and shall execute a nondisclosure agreement in the form of Attachment A, a copy of which shall be provided forthwith to counsel for each other party and for the parties.
6. Depositions shall be taken only in the presence of qualified persons.
7. The parties may further designate certain discovery material or testimony of a highly confidential and/or proprietary nature as "CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY" (hereinafter "Attorneys' Eyes Only Material"). In order to designate Attorneys' Eyes Only Material, a party shall produce to the other party or parties documents so designated by stamping them as set forth in paragraph 2 but with the legend "Confidential Attorneys' Eyes Only Material." In addition, for each document, the party shall indicate the basis for its designation. Within five business days, the other party or parties shall indicate in writing to the producing party whether it objects to the Attorneys' Eye Only designation. For each document, the objecting party shall indicate its objection and a reasonable basis for such objection.
If no other party objects, the designated documents shall be disclosed only to the Court to counsel for the parties (including the paralegal, clerical and secretarial staff employed by such counsel), and to the "qualified persons" listed in subparagraphs 5(b) through (e) above, but shall not be disclosed to a party, or to an officer, director or employee of a party, unless otherwise agreed to or ordered. If disclosure is made pursuant to this paragraph, all other provisions in this order with respect to confidentiality shall also apply.
If a party objects to the designation of certain documents as Attorneys' Eyes Only Material, within fourteen calendar days, the producing party shall file with the court a written request appropriate under applicable Local Rules and Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to so designate the documents Attorneys' Eyes Only Material. If the producing party fails to file such a written request with notice within fourteen calendar days, all parties shall treat the documents as Confidential Material under the stipulation. All parties may re-label or re-stamp the documents as "CONFIDENTIAL." If the producing party files such a written request, all parties shall treat the documents as Attorneys' Eyes Only Material until a court ruling on the written request.
8. Nothing herein shall impose any restrictions on the use or disclosure by a party of material obtained by such party independent of discovery in this action, whether such material is also obtained through discovery in this action, or from disclosing its own Confidential Material as it deems appropriate.
9. If Confidential Material, including any portion of a deposition transcript designated as Confidential or Attorney's Eyes Only, is included in any papers to be filed in Court, such papers shall be labeled "Confidential — Subject to Protective Order." Such material may further be filed under seal, at the Court's discretion. The disclosure and use at trial of Confidential Material is not hereby barred, but rather, is subject to the Court's approval.
10. In the event that any Confidential Material is used in any court proceeding in this action, it shall not lose its confidential status through such use, and the party using such shall take all reasonable steps to maintain its confidentiality during such use. The disclosure and use at trial of Confidential Material is not hereby barred, but rather, is subject to the Court's approval.
11. The Order shall be without prejudice to the right of the parties (i) to bring before the Court at any time the question of whether any particular document or information is confidential or whether its use should be restricted or (ii) to present a motion to the Court under FRCP 26(c) for a separate protective order as to any particular document or information, including restrictions differing from those as specified herein. This Order shall not be deemed to prejudice the parties in any way in any future application for modification of this Order.
12. This Order is entered solely for the purpose of facilitating the exchange of documents and information between the parties to this action without involving the Court unnecessarily in the process. Nothing in this Order nor the production of any information or document under the terms of this Order nor any proceedings pursuant to this Order shall be deemed to have the effect of an admission or waiver by either party or of altering the confidentiality or non-confidentiality of any such document or information or altering any existing obligation of any party or the absence thereof.
13. This Order shall survive the final termination of this action, to the extent that the information contained in Confidential Material is not or does not become known to the public, and the Court shall retain jurisdiction to resolve any dispute concerning the use of information disclosed hereunder. Upon termination of this case, counsel for the parties shall assemble and return to each other all documents, material and deposition transcripts designated as confidential and all copies of same, or shall certify the destruction thereof.
