General Electric Company, et al. v. Wilkins

Filing 306

ORDER GRANTING Request to Seal Documents (Doc. 305 ), Signed by Magistrate Judge Jennifer L. Thurston on 2/16/2012. (Arellano, S.)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, et al., )
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Plaintiffs,
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v.
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THOMAS WILKINS, an individual
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Defendant.
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____________________________________ )

Case No.: 1:10-cv-00674 LJO JLT
ORDER GRANTING REQUEST TO SEAL
DOCUMENTS
(Doc. 305)

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Before the Court is Wilkins’ Request to Seal Documents related to the current discovery
dispute (Doc. 279). (Doc. 305)
A motion to seal documents that are not part of the judicial record, such as “private

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materials unearthed during discovery,” is governed by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c).

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Pintos v. Pac. Creditors Ass’n, 605 F.3d 665, 678 (9th Cir. Cal. 2010). Under Federal Rule of

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Civil Procedure 26(c), the Court may issue orders to “protect a party or person from annoyance,

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embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense, including . . . requiring that a trade

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secret or other confidential research, development, or commercial information not be revealed or

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be revealed only in a specified way.”

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To make the determination whether documents should be sealed, the Court must evaluate
whether “‘good cause’ exists to protect th[e] information from being disclosed to the public by

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balancing the needs for discovery against the need for confidentiality.’” Pintos, 605 F.3d at 678

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(quoting Phillips ex rel. Estates of Byrd v. Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1213 (9th Cir.

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2002))

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Once again, the documents at issue related to this motion appear to be internal

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communications related to the patent application(s) for the intellectual property at issue. They

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appear to be directed to or are authored by an attorney employed by GE Power Systems. The

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Court finds that the two documents making up this exhibit appears is confidential information

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not otherwise available or known to the public. Likewise, the Court finds that the need to

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maintain the confidentiality of this material outweighs the need for public disclosure. Therefore,

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as to these materials, the motion is GRANTED.

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Therefore, good cause appearing,

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1.

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The Court ORDERS the following to be SEALED:
a.

The two documents related to the Motion to Compel and Determination of

Privilege Claims, lodged with the Court;
2.

Within two days, Counsel for Mr. Wilkins is ORDERED to provide the Court, via

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e-mail to [e-mail], a copy of the documents to be sealed.1

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IT IS SO ORDERED.

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Dated: February 16, 2012
9j7khi

/s/ Jennifer L. Thurston
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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W hen lodged before, they were attached to the motion to seal. The Court needs them as a stand-alone .pdf
document, without them being attached to the motion.

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