CHARLES F. EICK, Magistrate Judge.
Discovery in this lawsuit, L.A. Gem & Jewelry Design, Inc. v. Classic Imports of N.Y. Inc. Case No. CV14-08756 AB (Ex) (the "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 "Protective Order"). The parties acknowledge that this Protective 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. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 2.5, below, that this Protective Order does not entitle them to file documents under seal; Civil Local 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.
This Action involves claims for copyright infringement under the Copyright Act of 1976, Title 17 U.S.C., § 101 et seq. The parties to this case are in the business of manufacturing, marketing, and selling jewelry. Because of the parties' status as competitors or potential competitors, business information such as supplies lists, customer lists, cost-of-goods sold, pricing, manufacturing agreements, and other, similar information are confidential and must be protected from disclosure, and with highly sensitive information, safeguards are necessary to limit the disclosure of such information to opposing parties and/or other competitors in the market so as to avoid competitive harm.
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A party may also designate information disclosed at a deposition as CONFIDENTIAL and/or CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY by notifying all parties in writing, within thirty (30) days of receipt of the transcript, of the specific pages and lines designated as such. Each party shall attach a copy of such written statement to the face of each transcript in its possession, custody or control. For thirty (30) days after receipt of the transcript, depositions shall be treated as CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY, but after that period any portions not designated as CONFIDENTIAL and/or CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY may be disclosed.
a. The parties and employees of the parties, but only to the extent necessary to participate in, assist in and monitor the progress of this Action and for no other purpose;
b. Qualified persons taking testimony involving CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION, and necessary stenographic, videographic, and clerical personnel thereof;
c. Consultants or experts and their staff who are employed for the purposes of this litigation who have signed the "Written Assurance" acknowledgement (Attachment A);
d. The court and the court's staff;
e. The author, addressees and recipients of the documents or any person who would have had access to such information by virtue of his/her employment; and for whom disclosure is reasonably necessary,
f. any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions.
g. Attorneys for the parties to this litigation and/or the insurance carriers for the parties to the litigation, including persons working solely in secretarial, clerical, and paralegal capacities, and who are providing assistance to counsel in this Action, and/or claims representatives and/or claims adjustors, upon the condition that such CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION not be used in policy issuance determinations and be immediately destroyed by the insurance carriers upon completion of the instant litigation;
h. Third-parties specifically retained to assist outside counsel in copying, imaging, and/or coding of documents but for that purpose only, provided that all such confidential documents are kept and maintained in a separate and secure place and that the third party retained to copy, image, or code confidential documents is not currently performing any services, either as an employee, consultant, or otherwise for any competitor of either party to this Action or for one having any interest adverse to either party to this Action;
i. Any other person as to whom the parties previously agree in writing.
CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION which is subject to this Protective Order may be marked and used as trial exhibits by either party, subject to terms and conditions as imposed by the trial court upon application by the designating party.
This Protective Order shall survive the final termination of this Action and shall protect all retained materials that have remained confidential through final termination of the case. Upon final termination of this case, counsel for the parties may each retain one 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 CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION. Counsel shall destroy or assemble and return to each other materials designated as confidential and all copies or summaries thereof.
Nothing herein shall impose any restriction on the use or disclosure by a party of material: (1) obtained lawfully by a party hereto other than through discovery in this Action, from a person who, to the best of such party's knowledge, was not at the time such materials were obtained by such party under a duty (contractual or otherwise) to maintain such materials in confidence; (2) that is public knowledge or became public knowledge after disclosure under this Protective Order (other than through an act or omission or a person receiving material under this Protective Order).
This Protective Order shall be without prejudice to the right of any party: (i) to request re-designation of material as CONFIDENTIAL, CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY, or neither; (ii) upon written stipulation, in accordance with Local Rule 37, to request the Court's ruling on whether a document or information is CONFIDENTIAL, CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY Material, or whether its use should be restricted; (iii) to present a motion to the Court under FRCP 26(c) for a separate protective order as to any document or information, including restrictions differing from those specified herein. Any challenge to a confidentiality designation shall be initiated pursuant to Local Rule 37 and the burden of persuasion in any such challenge shall be on the party who designated the material as CONFIDENTIAL or CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY. The Protective Order shall not be deemed to prejudice the parties in any way in any future application for modification of this Protective Order.
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 or CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY that party must:
a. promptly notify in writing 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 Protective Order; and
c. cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the designating party whose CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION may be affected.
If the designating party timely seeks a protective order, the party served with the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this action as CONFIDENTIAL or CONFIDENTIAL— ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY before a determination by the court from which the subpoena or order issued, unless the party has obtained the designating party's permission. The designating party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court of its CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION and nothing in these provisions should be construed as authorizing or encouraging any party in this Action to disobey a lawful directive from another court.
Recipients of material under this Protective Order shall maintain such material secured and shall exercise the same standard of care with respect to storage, custody, use and dissemination of the material as they exercise for their own proprietary information, but in no event shall the standard be less than that of a reasonable person.
This Protective Order shall be binding on the parties pending entry by the Court.
FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, ________________________________________________________ (print name), reside at ______________________________________, in the City of ________________, _______________. I am employed by and/or affiliated with _____________________, with a business address of _____________________________________, in the City of ______________, _______________. I have read and understand the Stipulated Protective Order filed in the case of L.A. Gem & Jewelry Design, Inc. v. Classic Imports of N.Y. Inc. Case No. CV14-08756 AB (Ex). I agree to comply with and be bound by the provisions of the Stipulated Protective Order. I will not divulge Confidential Information (as defined in the Protective Order) to persons other than those specifically authorized by the Protective Order. I will not copy or use, except solely for the purpose of this litigation, any information protected by the Protective Order except as expressly permitted by the Court.
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 Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this Action.