JAMES P. O'HARA, Magistrate Judge.
Upon Stipulation of the parties, and for good cause, the Court finds that a Protective Order should be entered to protect confidential documents and commercial information which may be made available to the Court or in the course of discovery in this case. The information which may be made available to the Court or in the course of discovery includes but is not limited to non-public business forecasts, reports, designs, plans, procedures, practices, policies, communications, and analyses relating to automobile dealerships and franchises; customer and personnel information; and information concerning trademarks, trade dress, and other intellectual property relating to automobile dealerships and franchises. Releasing this information to the parties' competitors, or permitting the parties to use this information for purposes other than this lawsuit, poses a substantial risk of harming the parties' competitive position in the marketplace, interfering with the parties' business operations, or invading the privacy rights of the parties' customers and employees. Accordingly, is hereby ordered that the following principles and procedures will govern any and all discovery:
(a) The term "action" means RBM, Inc. d/b/a/Shawnee Mission Kia v. Kia Motors America, Inc., No. 2:12-cv-02175-EFM-JPO, pending in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas.
(b) The term "administrative actions" means the proceedings relating to the complaints filed by RBM, Inc. d/b/a Shawnee Mission Kia against Kia Motors America, Inc. before the Kansas Department of Revenue, Division of Vehicles, including RBM, Inc. d/b/a Shawnee Mission Kia v. Kia Motors America, Inc., OAH No. 12KR0001 DF.
(c) The term "competitor(s)" means persons or entities endeavoring to engage in the same or similar lines of business, provide the same or similar services, sell the same or similar products, and/or operate in the same markets, as well as any persons or entities who are actually engaged in any of these activities.
(d) The term "Confidential Discovery Material" means any Discovery Material that has been designated "Confidential" or "Confidential Attorneys Eyes Only."
(e) The term "disclose" or "disclosure" means to show, give, make available, or communicate in any fashion to any person any Discovery Material or any portion of Discovery Material.
(f) The term "Discovery Material" means all documents, depositions, interrogatory responses, responses to requests for admissions, affidavits, exhibits, pleadings, briefs, memoranda, transcripts, testimony, and any other information produced, given, submitted to the Court, or exchanged by and among the parties and any non-parties to this litigation. Discovery Material includes, but is not limited to, Confidential Discovery Material.
(g) The term "document" has the widest meaning accorded to it under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the case law construing it.
(h) The term "party" means any party to this action.
(i) The term "person" means any natural person, corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, group, association, organization, business entity, governmental body, or agency.
(j) The term "Producing Person" means any person who produces or supplies any Discovery Material, and any person who generated, has rights in, or has an interest in any Discovery Material.
(k) The term "Protective Order" means this Joint Stipulated Protective Order. This Protective Order governs the handling of all Discovery Material, whether such Discovery Material was produced or submitted to the Court prior to or after the entry of this Protective Order.
(l) The term "Receiving Person" means any person to whom Discovery Material is disclosed by a Producing Person in response to any discovery method.
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(a) In the case of documents or other materials (apart from depositions or other pretrial testimony), designation will be made by the Producing Person by including the word(s) "Confidential" or "Confidential Attorneys Eyes Only" on each page containing any Confidential information, except that in the case of multi-page documents bound together by a staple or other binding, the word(s) "Confidential" or "Confidential Attorneys Eyes Only" need only be stamped on the first page of the document for the entire document to be treated as Confidential Discovery Material. In the case of electronically stored or other information not readily subject to page marking, designation will be made in writing by the Producing Person at or around the time of the disclosure that such information is "Confidential" or "Confidential Attorneys Eyes Only." In the event that any such information is thereafter printed out in hard-copy by the Receiving Person, the Receiving Person will affix on each page a label with the "Confidential" or "Confidential Attorneys Eyes Only" designation made by the Producing Person.
(b) In the event a Producing Person elects to produce a large volume of documents or information for inspection or review, to facilitate prompt discovery, no designations of "Confidential" or "Confidential Attorneys Eyes Only" need be made in advance of the inspection or review. Instead, all documents or information will be treated as "Confidential Attorneys Eyes Only." Thereafter, upon selection of specified documents or information by the Receiving Person for copying or production, the Producing Person will mark the copies of such documents or information as "Confidential" or "Confidential Attorneys Eyes Only" in accordance with this Protective Order.
(c) Notwithstanding the foregoing, a failure to designate documents or information at the time of production or disclosure as "Confidential" or "Confidential Attorneys Eyes Only" does not constitute a waiver of such a claim. A Producing Person may designate documents or information as "Confidential" or "Confidential Attorneys Eyes Only" before or after the documents or information have been produced by providing written notice of the designation. Upon receipt of such notice, the Receiving Person will treat such documents or information as "Confidential" or "Confidential Attorneys Eyes Only" as if they had been initially so designated. The Receiving Person will make a reasonable, good-faith effort to ensure that any analyses, memoranda, notes, or other materials containing such newly designated information are treated as containing Confidential Discovery Material.
(d) In the case of depositions or other testimony (including exhibits), designation will be made by (1) a statement on the record by counsel for the Producing Person at or around the time the testimony is provided; or (2) written notice sent by counsel for the Producing Person to all parties within 30 days of receiving a copy of the transcript of such testimony. To enable Producing Person to make designations, all deposition testimony in this action will be treated as "Confidential" until the end of the 30th day after the parties and the deponent receive a transcript of the deposition, unless the testimony is designated "Attorneys Eyes Only" at the deposition. Whenever Confidential Discovery Material is to be discussed in a deposition, the Producing Person may have excluded from the deposition (for the duration of the discussion about the Confidential Discovery Material) any person who is not entitled under this Protective Order to receive such Confidential Discovery Material.
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(a) Persons named as plaintiffs or defendants in this action, along with their respective employees, officers, and directors.
(b) In-house and outside counsel for the parties in this action, and regular and temporary employees and contractors of such counsel having actual need for access to assist in the conduct of the litigation.
(c) Experts or consultants retained by the parties or the parties' counsel solely for the purpose of assisting in prosecuting or defending this action. Confidential Discovery Material may be provided to and used by such experts or consultants only to the extent necessary for the experts or consultants to prepare a written opinion, to prepare to testify, or to assist counsel in the prosecution of this action. Such experts or consultants will be provided with an agreement to abide by the terms of this Protective Order attached hereto as Exhibit A. Before providing experts or consultants with confidential information, counsel shall obtain a signed copy of Exhibit A, and shall retain a signed copy of the agreement in the appropriate file. The provisions of this paragraph also apply to any employees or support staff who, as part of their employment with experts or consultants, assist in the prosecution or defense of this action. Under no circumstances will an expert or consultant who is a competitor or an employee of a competitor of a party, or who provides consulting, expert, or other advisory services to a competitor of a party, be provided access to Confidential Discovery Material absent further order of the Court.
(d) Authors, drafters, addressees, and other persons who properly received the Confidential Discovery Material prior to the commencement of this action.
(e) Stenographers, videographers, or other court reporters engaged to transcribe or record depositions.
(f) The Court, court personnel, and members of any jury.
(g) The presiding officer or administrative law judge in the administrative actions, subject to the requirements and restrictions set forth above in Paragraph 3.
(h) Any other person upon order of the Court or upon stipulation of the Producing Person.
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(a) In-house and outside counsel for the parties in this action, and regular and temporary employees and contractors of such counsel having actual need for access to assist in the conduct of the litigation.
(b) Experts or consultants retained by the parties or the parties' counsel solely for the purpose of assisting in prosecuting or defending this action. Confidential Discovery Material may be provided to and used by such experts or consultants only to the extent necessary for the experts or consultants to prepare a written opinion, to prepare to testify, or to assist counsel in the prosecution of this litigation. Such experts or consultants will be provided with an agreement to abide by the terms of this Protective Order attached hereto as Exhibit A. Before providing experts or consultants with confidential information, counsel shall obtain a signed copy of Exhibit A, and shall retain a signed copy of the agreement in the appropriate file. The provisions of this paragraph also apply to any employees or support staff who, as part of their employment with experts or consultants, assist in the prosecution or defense of this litigation. Under no circumstances will an expert or consultant who is a competitor or an employee of a competitor of a party, or who provides consulting, expert, or other advisory services to a competitor of a party, be provided access to Confidential Discovery Material absent further order of the Court.
(c) Authors, drafters, addressees, and other persons who properly received the Confidential Discovery material prior to the commencement of this action.
(d) Stenographers, videographers, or other court reporters engaged to transcribe or record depositions.
(e) The Court, court personnel, and members of any jury.
(f) The presiding officer or administrative law judge in the administrative actions, subject to the requirements and restrictions set forth above in Paragraph 3.
(g) Any other person upon order of the Court or upon stipulation of the Producing Person.
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(a) operate as an admission by any party that any particular Confidential Discovery Material contains or reflects (or does not contain or reflect) trade secrets or any other type of confidential information;
(b) prejudice in any way the rights of the parties to object to discovery that the parties believe to be otherwise improper, or operate as an admission by any party that the restrictions and procedures set forth herein constitute adequate protection for any particular information deemed by any party to be Confidential Discovery Material;
(c) prejudice in any way the rights of any party to object to the relevance, authenticity, use, or admissibility of any document, testimony, or other evidence subject to this Protective Order;
(d) prejudice in any way the rights of any party to seek a determination by the Court whether any Discovery Material should be subject to the terms of this Protective Order, to petition the Court to modify or amend this Protective Order, or to petition the Court for a further or different protective order; or
(e) prevent the parties from agreeing in writing to alter or waive the provisions in or protections of this Protective Order with respect to any particular Discovery Material, subject to any required approval from the Court.
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IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, _____________________________________, have read and understand the Joint Stipulated Protective Order ("Protective Order") in this case. I agree to be fully bound by and to comply with all of the terms of the Protective Order. I submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas for purposes of enforcement of the Protective Order. I understand that Confidential Discovery Material has been or will be provided to me pursuant to the Protective Order. I agree to keep Confidential Discovery Material in confidence and not to disclose it to any person who is not authorized to receive Confidential Discovery Material under the Protective Order. I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing statements are true and accurate.