GLORIA M. NAVARRO, District Judge.
Pending before the Court are Plaintiff Nike, Inc.'s ("Plaintiff's") Motion for Attorneys' Fees, (ECF No. 40), and Motion for Leave to File under Seal, (ECF No. 41). Defendants did not file responses. For the reasons discussed below, the Court
This case concerns Defendants' infringement of various design patents and trademark rights owned by Plaintiff. (Compl. ¶¶ 5-67, ECF No. 1). During litigation, Plaintiff secured a temporary restraining order, seizure order, and preliminary injunction against Defendants. (Temporary Restraining Order, ECF No. 10); (Preliminary Injunction, ECF No. 23). At every turn, Defendants failed to appear and defend. Accordingly, Plaintiff eventually secured a default judgment against Defendants. (Default Judgment, ECF No. 37).
Plaintiff now moves for an award of attorneys' fees pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 285 and 15 U.S.C. § 1117 based on Defendants' willful infringement of Plaintiff's intellectual property rights. (Mot. Attorneys' Fees ¶¶ 2, 7-8, ECF No. 40). Plaintiff also seeks to seal certain documents related to negotiated billing rates with its attorneys. (Mot. Seal 2:2-3, ECF No. 41).
Plaintiff seeks an award of $78,608.00 in attorneys' fees for time spent litigating this case. To support the award, Plaintiff submits an itemized time sheet showing hours billed with a short description of the work performed for each billing entry. Plaintiff also submits a declaration from counsel Kurt C. Riester, who is an attorney with the law firm of Banner & Witcoff, Ltd., explaining the expertise required to prosecute this case, the experience and reputation of Plaintiff's counsel, and the actions taken to achieve successful results. (Decl. Kurt C. Riester ¶¶ 5, 7, 10, 14, ECF No. 42).
In determining the reasonableness of an hourly rate, courts consider the experience, skill, and reputation of the attorney requesting fees. See, e.g., Chalmers v. City of Los Angeles, 796 F.2d 1205, 1210 (9th Cir. 1986). A reasonable hourly rate should reflect the prevailing market rates of attorneys practicing in the forum community. Id.; see also Blum v. Stenson, 465 U.S. 886, 895-96 n.11 (1984). Further, courts use a "lodestar figure" to analyze the reasonableness of fees. Fischer v. SJB-P.D. Inc., 214 F.3d 1115, 1119 (9th Cir. 2000). A court arrives at the lodestar figure by multiplying "the number of hours reasonably expended on the litigation" by "a reasonable hourly rate." Id.
At the outset here, the hourly rates charged by Plaintiff's attorneys fall within a range routinely approved in this District. See, e.g., Wynn Resorts Holdings, LLC v. Encore Sports Lounge, No. 2:14-cv-1710-JAD-CWH, 2016 WL 4060305, at *1 (D. Nev. July 28, 2016). In comparison to other decisions in this District, the total fees and hours billed generally resemble those in other cases which involved similar claims. Cf. Bird-B-Gone, Inc. v. Haierc Industry Co., Ltd., 2018 WL 4682320, at *5 (D. Nev. 2018) (awarding $61,406.73 in a patent-infringement suit resolved by default judgment and not involving motion practice on a temporary restraining order); Wynn Resorts Holdings, LLC v. Encore Sports Lounge, 2016 WL 4060305, at *2 (D. Nev. 2016) (awarding attorneys' fees of $20,234.40 in a trademark-infringement suit resolved by default judgment and with filings of only the complaint, motion of entry of clerk's default, motion for default judgment, and motion for attorneys' fees).
However, several of Plaintiff's billing entries pose concerns about reasonableness. For instance, multiple entries amounting to 7.7 hours concern a Motion for Entry of Clerk's Default. (Attorneys' Fees and Costs for Banner & Witcoff, Ltd. at 10-11, Ex. 1 to Mot. Attorneys' Fees, ECF No. 42-1) (concerning time entries of 4.9 and 0.8 hours on April 28, 2017; 0.7 hours on May 4, 2017; and 1.3 hours on June 19, 2018). The final Motion consisted of one page of substantive discussion (four sentences of argument) and a proposed order taken from the Court's website. (Mot. Entry of Clerk's Default, ECF No. 27). Further, the billing descriptions for these entries lump together separate activities, including time spent working on other motions. (See Attorneys' Fees and Costs for Banner & Witcoff, Ltd. at 11, Ex. 1 to Mot. Attorneys' Fees). The Court thus cannot properly evaluate the precise time spent on just the Motion for Entry of Clerk's Default; and anywhere near 7.7 hours is not reasonable for the submitted Motion.
The next concerning entry occurred on March 1, 2017, where an attorney spent 4.4 hours analyzing "transcripts from prior [preliminary injunction] hearings before Judge Navarro" to prepare for the preliminary injunction hearing occurring two days later.
Nevertheless, after considering analogous decisions in this District, the complex nature of trademark and patent infringement cases, and the quality of work submitted in this matter earning Plaintiff's requested relief, the Court finds that most of the hours spent by Plaintiff's attorneys were reasonable (e.g., those spent securing a temporary restraining order, evaluating infringing products for seizure, indexing inventories of seized products, and securing a preliminary injunction and default judgment). Accordingly, while the Court reduces the specific fees discussed above, it grants Plaintiff an award of attorneys' fees amounting to $76,871.20.
The Court also grants Plaintiff's request to seal Exhibit 1 submitted in support of its Motion for Attorneys' Fees and portions of Kurt C. Riester's Declaration. The Exhibit and Declaration, according to Plaintiff, contain confidential negotiated billing rates which are generally not available to the public or competitors. (Mot. Seal 2:23-27, ECF No. 41); (Decl. ¶ 18). Plaintiff also claims that these documents describe the work performed by its attorneys, and thus constitute confidential information. (Id. 2:27-3:2). Based on Plaintiff's representations about the commercially sensitive nature of its negotiated fee arrangements, the Court finds it appropriate under the "compelling reasons" standard to seal these documents. Mine O'Mine, Inc. v. Calmese, No. 2:10-cv-00043-KJD, 2012 WL 1279827, at *4 (D. Nev. Apr. 16, 2012), aff'd, 489 F. App'x 175 (9th Cir. 2012) ("Because these hourly billing rates are competitively sensitive and not publicly known, it is appropriate to file them under seal.").