Lulu Enterprises, Inc. v. N-F Newsite, LLC et al

Filing 21

MOTION to Seal Document by N-F Newsite, LLC. (Attachments: #1 Text of Proposed Order) (Silver, Hayden)

Lulu Enterprises, Inc. v. N-F Newsite, LLC et al

Doc. 21

Case 5:07-cv-00347-D

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Filed 09/13/2007

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA WESTERN DIVISION NO. 5:07-cv-00347-D LULU ENTERPRISES, INC., Plaintiff, vs. N-F NEWSITE, LLC, and HULU TECH, INC., Defendants. DEFENDANT'S MOTION AND MEMORANDUM TO FILE DOCUMENTS UNDER SEAL Defendant N-F NewSite, LLC ("NewSite"), by and through its undersigned counsel and pursuant to Local Rule of Civil Procedure 79.2 of the Eastern District of North Carolina hereby moves this Court for an order allowing NewSite to file under seal its Confidential Disclosure required by the Court in its September 12, 2007 Order. In support of its motion, NewSite provides the following: 1. NewSite attests that the Confidential Disclosure required by the Court contains

proprietary and competitively sensitive information, including the launch date of the Hulu.com private beta site, the product at issue in this case. 2. Counsel for Plaintiff Lulu Enterprises, Inc. ("Lulu") has consented to this motion.

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Dockets.Justia.com

Case 5:07-cv-00347-D

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ARGUMENT AND CITATION OF AUTHORITY The Fourth Circuit has explicitly set forth the standards and procedure for maintaining documents under seal. A court considering a motion to maintain documents under seal must first determine the nature of the information the public's right to access. Stone v. Univ. of Md. Medical Sys. Corp., 855 F.2d 178, 180 (4th Cir. 1988); Hall v. United Air Lines Inc., 296 F. Supp. 2d 652, 679 (E.D.N.C. 2003). Although there is a presumption that the public may have access to judicial records and documents, this access is proscribed by a party's right to privacy and to protect trade secrets and confidential business information. Glaxo Inc. v. Novopharm Ltd., 931 F. Supp. 1280, 1299 (E.D.N.C. 1996). Courts have uniformly held that a "well-settled exception to the right of access is the `protection of a party's interest in confidential commercial information, such as a trade secret.'" In re Gabapentin Patent Litig., 312 F. Supp. 2d 653, 664 (D. N.J. 2004). The Confidential Disclosure Statement required by the court contains highly competitive information relating to the launch date of Hulu.com and as such should be filed under seal. WHEREFORE, Defendant N-F Newsite, LLC respectfully prays the Court for an Order allowing it to file its Confidential Disclosure under seal. A proposed Order is submitted with this Motion.

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Respectfully submitted this the 13th day of September, 2007. /s/ Hayden J. Silver, III Hayden J. Silver, III NC State Bar No. 10037 [e-mail] Betsy Cooke NC State Bar No. 25353 [e-mail] KILPATRICK STOCKTON LLP 3737 Glenwood Avenue, Suite 400 Raleigh, NC 27612 [phone] [phone] (facsimile)

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE This is to certify that on this date the foregoing was electronically filed with the Clerk of the Court using the CM/ECF System which will send notice to the following CM/ECF participants: Leslie C. O'Toole [e-mail] Thomas Hamilton Segars [e-mail] This the 13th day of September, 2007.

/s/ Hayden J. Silver, III

KILPATRICK STOCKTON LLP 3737 Glenwood Avenue, Suite 400 Raleigh, North Carolina 27612 Telephone: [phone]

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EXHIBIT A FILED UNDER SEAL

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