DOUGLAS F. McCORMICK, Magistrate Judge.
Nothing in this Order confers blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery, and the protection it affords extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled under the applicable legal principles to treatment as confidential. Further, this Stipulated Protective Order creates no entitlement to file confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and reflects 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. "Highly Confidential — Attorneys' Eyes Only" Information or Items: information or any other form of evidence or discovery the party or third party witness or entity believes, in good faith, embodies, contains or reflects highly proprietary financial or technical data or highly sensitive competitive information that a producing party or producing third party determines, in good faith, is likely to cause significant competitive harm to its existing or prospective commercial relationships if disclosed to third parties. General examples of such "Attorneys Eyes Only" information may include, without limitation, currently competitive trade secrets, minutes of Board meetings, pricing data, financial data, sales information, customer confidential information, agreements or relationships with non-parties, market projections or forecasts, strategic business plans, selling or marketing strategies, or information about employees. These examples are provided for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute an admission of the relevancy of any such materials in this litigation.
2.5.
2.6.
2.7.
2.8.
2.9.
2.10.
2.11.
2.12.
2.13.
The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material (as defined above), but also any information copied or extracted therefrom, as well as all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations thereof, plus testimony, conversations, or presentations by parties or counsel to or in court or in other settings that might reveal Protected Material.
The terms of this Order shall survive the final termination of this action to the extent that any Protected Material is not or does not become known to the public. This Court shall retain jurisdiction over this action for the purpose of enforcing this Order. The parties agree that any order of dismissal of this action as to any or all parties shall include a specific provision that the Court retains jurisdiction to enforce the terms of this Order following dismissal. Each Party hereby consents to the personal jurisdiction of the Court for that purpose.
5.1.
Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are shown to be clearly unjustified, or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber or retard the case development process, or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties), may expose the Designating Party to sanctions.
If it comes to a Party's or a non-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 Party or non-party must promptly notify all other parties that it is withdrawing the mistaken designation.
5.2.
Designation in conformity with this Order requires:
(a) For information in documentary form (apart from transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the Producing Party affix the legend "CONFIDENTIAL" or "HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY" on each page that contains protected material. If the Receiving Party believes a portion of the page so designated does not contain Protected Material or should be given a lower level of protection, the Receiving Party may make a request to the Producing Party that that portion be de-designated. The change in the level of protection may be indicated by making appropriate markings in the margin of the affected page.
(b) For Native and/or Other Electronic Materials, all Protected Material not reduced to hard copy, tangible or physical form or that cannot be conveniently designated as set forth in Paragraph 5.2(a) shall be designated by informing the Receiving Party of the designation in writing. To the extent the Receiving Party subsequently generates any permitted copies of this information, whether electronic or hard copy, it shall ensure that all such copies are clearly designated with the appropriate confidentiality designations.
(c) For documents made available for inspection, a party or non-party 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' 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' EYES ONLY") on 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 (either "CONFIDENTIAL" or "HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY"). If a document has more than one designation, the more restrictive or higher designation applies.
(d) For testimony given in deposition or in other discovery-related proceedings, that the Party or non-party offering or sponsoring the testimony identify on the record, before the close of the deposition or other discovery-related proceeding, all protected testimony, and further specify any portions of the testimony that qualify as "CONFIDENTIAL" or "HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY." Testimony identified in this way will retain the protection of its designation as Protected Material without any further action by the Designating Party. Any Party may also designate testimony as "CONFIDENTIAL" or "HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY" by notifying the court reporter and all of the parties, in writing within thirty (30) days after receipt of the final corrected deposition transcript, of the specific pages and lines of the transcript that should be treated thereafter as "CONFIDENTIAL" or "HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY". In such a case, each Party shall attach a copy of such written notice or notices to the face of the transcript and each copy thereof in his/her possession, custody or control. In any event, all deposition transcripts shall be treated as "HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY" for at least a period of thirty (30) days after receipt of the final corrected transcript.
(e) For information produced in some form other than documentary, and for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the exterior of the container or containers in which the information or item is stored the legend "CONFIDENTIAL" or "HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY." If only portions of the information or item warrant protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected portions, specifying whether they qualify as "Confidential" or as "Highly Confidential — Attorneys' Eyes Only."
5.3.
(a) Inadvertent Failures to Properly Designate. If a Party or non-party inadvertently produces Material without labeling or otherwise designating it in accordance with the provisions of this Order, the Party or non-party may give written notice to the Receiving Party that the Material produced is designated "CONFIDENTIAL" or "HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY" and should be treated as such in accordance with the provisions of this Order. The Receiving Party must treat such Material according to its most recent designation of "CONFIDENTIAL" or "HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY" from the date such notice is received. If, before receiving such notice, the Receiving Party disclosed such Material to recipients who are not qualified to receive it under the most recent designation, the Receiving Party must immediately inform the Designating Party of all pertinent facts relating to such disclosure and shall make all reasonable efforts to assure that the Material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order, including retrieving any copies that may have been disclosed to unqualified recipients. Nothing in this section shall preclude a Party from challenging the propriety of the claim of confidentiality.
(b) No Waiver of Privilege. The production or inspection of Material that a Producing Party claims was inadvertent and should not have been produced or disclosed because of the attorney-client privilege, the work product immunity or any other applicable privilege or immunity from discovery shall not be deemed to be a waiver of any such privilege or immunity to which the Producing Party would have been entitled had the Material not inadvertently been produced or disclosed. Upon request by the Producing Party, the Receiving Party shall immediately return all copies of such inadvertently produced Material. The return of such Material shall not in any way preclude the Receiving Party from moving the Court for a ruling that the Material was never privileged.
6.1.
6.2.
6.3.
Until the court rules on the challenge, 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.
7.1.
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.
7.2.
(a) the Receiving Party's Outside Counsel of record in this action;
(b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the "Agreement to Be Bound by Protective Order" (Exhibit A);
(c) experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the "Agreement to Be Bound by Protective Order" (Exhibit A);
(d) the Court and its personnel (who are expressly excluded from any requirement to sign the "Agreement to Be Bound by Protective Order" (Exhibit A));
(e) court reporters, their staffs, and Professional Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the "Agreement to Be Bound by Protective Order" (Exhibit A);
(f) during their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary and who have signed the "Agreement to Be Bound by Protective Order" (Exhibit A). 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;
(g) the author of the document or the original source of the information;
(h) any mediator who is assigned to hear this matter, and his or her staff, subject to their agreement to maintain confidentiality to the same degree as required by this Stipulated Protective Order.
7.3.
(a) The Receiving Party's Outside Counsel of record in this action, as well as employees of said Counsel to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclosure the information for this litigation;
(b) Experts (as defined in this Order) (1) to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation, and (2) who have signed the "Agreement to Be Bound by Protective Order" (Exhibit A);
(c) The Court and its personnel (who are expressly excluded from any requirement to sign the "Agreement to Be Bound by Protective Order" (Exhibit A));
(d) Court reporters, their staffs, and Professional Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the "Agreement to Be Bound by Protective Order" (Exhibit A); and
(e) The author of the document or the original source of the information.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
If a Receiving Party is served with a subpoena or an order issued in other litigation that would compel disclosure of any information or items designated in this action as "CONFIDENTIAL" or "HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY," the Receiving Party must so notify the Designating Party, in writing (by fax, if possible) within seven court days after receiving the subpoena or order. Such notification must include a copy of the subpoena or court order.
The Receiving Party also must inform in writing the Party who caused the subpoena or order to issue in the other litigation that some or all the material covered by the subpoena or order is the subject of this Protective Order. In addition, the Receiving Party must deliver a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order promptly to the Party in the other action that caused the subpoena or order to issue.
The purpose of imposing these duties is to alert the interested parties to the existence of this Protective Order and to afford the Designating Party in this case an opportunity to try to protect its confidentiality interests in the court from which the subpoena or order issued. The Designating Party shall bear the burdens and the expenses 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.
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 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all 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.
In accordance with Local Rule 79-5.1, if any papers to be filed with the Court contain information and/or documents that have been designated as "Confidential" or Highly Confidential — Attorneys' Eyes Only," the proposed filing shall be accompanied by an application to file the papers or the portion thereof containing the designated information or documents (if such portion is segregable) under seal; and the application shall be directed to the judge to whom the papers are directed. For motions, the parties shall publicly file a redacted version of the motion and supporting papers.
Unless otherwise ordered or agreed in writing by the Producing Party, within sixty days after the final termination of this action, each Receiving Party must securely destroy all Protected Material or return all Protected Material to the Producing Party, at the Producing Party's option. As used in this subdivision, "all Protected Material" includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other form of 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 sixty day deadline that identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed and that affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or other forms of reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material.
Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence or attorney work product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION), above.
13.1.
13.2.
13.3.
Pursuant to the Parties' Stipulation,
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 Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the United States District Court for the Central District of California on [date] in the case of LOMONACO V. SOBERLINK, INC., Case No. SACV15-00015-JLS (RNBx). I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective 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 Stipulated Protective 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 Stipulated Protective 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 Stipulated Protective Order.