CLAUDIA WILKEN, District Judge.
Disclosure and discovery activity in this action may involve production of confidential, proprietary, and/or private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting or defending this litigation would be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate and agree to the following Protective Order ("Order"), subject to Court approval. The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection it affords extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled under the applicable legal principles to treatment as confidential. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 11, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 and General Order 62 set 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.
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The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material, but also (1) any information copied or extracted therefrom; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations thereof; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties or Counsel to or in court or in other settings that reveal Protected Material. However, the protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order do not cover 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. Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by a separate agreement or order.
Even after the final termination of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations imposed by this Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees otherwise in writing or a Court order otherwise directs. Final termination shall be deemed to be the later of (1) dismissal of all claims and defenses in this action, with or without prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the completion and exhaustion of all appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this action, including the time limits for filing any motions or applications for extension of time pursuant to applicable law.
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(a) Information
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 "Confidential." 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 may affix the "Confidential" legend to each page that contains Protected Material.
A Party may have the right to designate documents produced by another Party or Non-Party "Confidential" subject to the terms of this Order including, but not limited, to the provisions for challenging confidentiality designations set forth in Section 6, below. Within 21 days of receipt of such documents, the Designating Party shall provide notice to all other Parties and the producing Non-Party of such designation. After receiving this notice and upon agreement from the Producing Party, the Designating Party or the Producing Party or Non-Party shall affix the "Confidential" legend to the documents designated.
(b)
To the extent it is practicable to do so, parties shall give the other parties general notice if they reasonably expect a deposition, hearing, or other proceeding to include Protected Material so that the other parties can ensure that only authorized individuals who have signed the "Agreement to Be Bound By Protective Order" (Exhibit A) are present at those proceedings. The use of a document as an exhibit at a deposition shall not in any way affect its designation as "Confidential."
Transcript pages containing Protected Material must be separately bound by the court reporter, who must affix to the top of each such page the legend "Confidential," as instructed by the Party or Non-Party designating the testimony.
(c)
A Party may designate non-documentary materials produced by another Party or Non-Party as "Confidential," subject to the same requirements as Section 5.3(a) above.
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The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the Designating Party. The Designating Party bears the burden, for each particular document it seeks to protect, of showing that the confidentiality designation is proper under the terms of this Order.
Notwithstanding any challenge to the designation of material as Protected Material, all such documents shall be treated as such and shall be subject to the provisions of this Order unless and until one of the following occurs: (a) the Designating Party withdraws such designation in writing to all Parties and no other Party has designated that material as Protected Material; or (b) the Court rules the material is not Protected Material.
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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.
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(a) the Receiving Party's Outside Counsel of Record in this action, as well as employees of said Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the information for this litigation;
(b) the officers, directors, and employees (including In-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 and/or Consultants 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;
(e) court reporters or videographers and their staff, mediators and their staff, professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, 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) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information and who has signed the "Agreement to Be Bound By Protective Order" (Exhibit A); and (g) 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), 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 Order.
If a Receiving Party is served with a subpoena or an order issued in other litigation that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this action as "Confidential," the Receiving Party must so notify the Designating Party, in writing (by email, if possible) immediately and in no event more than five court days after learning of the receipt of the subpoena or order. Such notification must include a copy of the subpoena or court order.
The Receiving Party also must inform in writing as soon as reasonably practicable 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 the subject of this Order. In addition, the Receiving Party must deliver a copy of this Order promptly to the party in the other action that caused the subpoena or order to issue.
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" before a determination by the court from which the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party's permission.
The purpose of imposing these duties is to alert the interested parties to the existence of this 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 directive from another court.
(a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non-Party in this action and designated as "Confidential." Such information produced by a Non-Party 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 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 this Protective Order, 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 objects or 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 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 agree to execute the "Agreement to Be Bound By Protective Order" that is attached hereto as Exhibit A.
Without written permission from the Designating Party or a court order secured after appropriate notice to all interested persons, a Party may not file in the public record in this action any Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected Material must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5 and General Order 62. Protected Material may only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected Material at issue. Pursuant to Civil Local Rule 79-5 and General Order 62, a sealing order will issue only upon a request establishing that the Protected Material at issue is privileged, protectable as a trade secret, or otherwise entitled to protection under the law.
Pursuant to Civil Local Rule 79-5(d), within 7 days of the submitting Party's request for a sealing order, the Designating Party must file with the Court and serve a declaration establishing that the designated information is sealable, and must lodge and serve a narrowly tailored proposed sealing order, or must withdraw the designation of confidentiality. If the Designating Party does not file its responsive declaration as required by this subsection, the document or proposed filing will be made part of the public record. Alternatively, if any Party's request to file Protected Material under seal pursuant to Civil Local Rule 79-5(d) and General Order 62 is denied by the Court, the Party may file the information in the public record pursuant to Civil Local Rule 79-5(e) unless otherwise instructed by the Court.
12.1 Pursuant to Federal Rules of Evidence 502(d) and (e), the inadvertent production of information that is privileged or otherwise protected will not operate as a waiver of privilege or work-product protection in this proceeding or in any other federal or state proceeding. For purposes of this Order, an inadvertent production includes a production without prior review of the information for privilege or work product, or with use of linguistic tools in screening for privilege or work-product protection. Nothing in this Section precludes a Party from otherwise challenging a claim of privilege or work-product protection.
12.2 In the event that privileged or otherwise protected information is inadvertently produced, the following procedures will apply:
(a) If a Producing Party discovers that it inadvertently produced information that the Producing Party claims is privileged or otherwise protected work product, the Producing Party will promptly (i) advise the Receiving Party of the inadvertent disclosure in writing (unless written notification is impractical), and (ii) explain the basis for the claim of privilege or work-product protection. After being notified, the Receiving Party shall treat the information in compliance with the procedures set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B).
(b) If a Receiving Party discovers information that it reasonably believes to be privileged or protected work product, the Receiving Party will treat the information in compliance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B) and notify the Producing Party of the disclosure and identify the information. The Producing Party then has five (5) business days to (i) confirm whether it intends to assert that the information is privileged or work product and (ii) provide the basis for the claim of privilege or protection. The Receiving Party shall at all times treat the specified information in accordance with the procedures set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B).
(c) To extent the Receiving Party challenges the claim of privilege or work product under this Section, the Parties must meet and confer in an attempt to resolve the matter. If the Parties cannot resolve the dispute, the Party challenging the claim of privilege or work product shall have a reasonable amount of time to present the issue to the Court consistent with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B).
(d) If a Party receives information that it does not reasonably believe to be privileged or otherwise protected work product, disclosure or use of the information by the Receiving Party, including production to a third party before notice from the Producing Party that the information was inadvertently produced, will not be deemed a violation of this Order. However, under these circumstances, the Receiving Party is precluded from arguing that the Producing Party waived privilege or work-product protection based solely on the Receiving Party's disclosure of the inadvertently produced information to a third party.
(e) If the Receiving Party disclosed the inadvertently produced information to a third party before receiving notice of a claim of privilege or work-product protection, it must take reasonable steps to retrieve the information and to return it, sequester it until the claim is resolved, or destroy it.
(f) If, during a deposition, the Producing Party asserts for the first time that information contained in a marked exhibit was inadvertently produced and is privileged or protected work product and the Receiving Party disputes the assertion, the Receiving Party may present the information to the Court under seal for a determination of the claim on an expedited basis, where appropriate, and reserve the right to seek to question the deponent regarding the challenged information on an expedited basis, if necessary, to the extent not privileged or protected. The Producing Party shall make reasonable efforts to cooperate with the Receiving Party regarding additional questioning, if any, on such information to the extent ordered by the Court.
(g) Compliance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B) does not waive the Receiving Party's right to challenge the Producing Party's assertion of privilege or work-product protection.
Unless otherwise ordered or agreed in writing by the Producing Party, within 90 days after the final termination of this action as defined Section 4, including appellate litigation or the time period therefore, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material, at the Receiving 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 60 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, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports 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 Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION), above.
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(a) Operate as an admission by any party that any particular material designated as Protected Material constitutes or does not constitute trade secrets, proprietary or commercially sensitive information, or any other type of Protected Material;
(b) Prejudice in any way the rights of the Parties to object to the production of documents they consider not subject to discovery;
(c) Prejudice in any way the rights of any Party to object to the authenticity or admissibility into evidence of any document, testimony, or other evidence subject to this Order;
(d) Prejudice in any way the rights of a Party to petition the Court for a further protective order relating to any purportedly Protected Material;
(e) Prevent the Parties to this Order from agreeing in writing or on the record during a deposition or hearing in this action to alter or waive the provisions or protections provided for herein with respect to any particular information or material;
(f) Be deemed to waive any applicable privilege or work product protection, or to affect the ability of a Party to seek relief for an inadvertent disclosure of material protected by privilege or work product protection; and/or
(g) Prevent a Party or Non-Party from objecting to discovery that it believes to be improper, including objections based upon the privileged, confidential, or proprietary nature of the Protected Material requested.
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IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.
PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, 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 that was issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on ________ [date] in the case of Robert Curry, et al. v. Hansen Medical, Inc., et al., Lead Case No. CV 09-5094-CW. I understand that the Protective Order, a copy of which has been given to me, prohibits me from disclosing or using in any manner any information or items subject to the Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of the Protective Order. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this 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 or use in any manner any information or item that is subject to this Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this Protective Order.
I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Northern 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.
I hereby appoint ___________ [print or type full name] of ____________________ [print or type full address and telephone number] as my agent for service of process in connection with this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Protective Order.