SAS Institute Inc. v. World Programming Limited

Filing 234

ORDER granting #218 Motion to Seal #215 PROPOSED SEALED Exhibit, #217 PROPOSED SEALED Exhibit, #214 PROPOSED SEALED Exhibit, #213 PROPOSED SEALED Declaration, #216 PROPOSED SEALED Exhibit, #212 PROPOSED SEALED Memorandum in Support - Signed by District Judge Louise Wood Flanagan on 04/17/2014. (Baker, C.)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
WESTERN DIVISION
No. 5:10-CV-25-FL
SAS INSTITUTE INC.,

)
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
v.
)
)
WORLD PROGRAMMING LIMITED
)
)
Defendant.
)
__________________________________________)

ORDER

This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff’s Motion for Leave to File Under Seal (i)
Plaintiff’s Memorandum in Support of its Motion for Partial Summary Judgment [Dkt. 212], and
(ii) the Declaration of Pressly M. Millen, sworn to April 14, 2014, with attached exhibits, filed in
support of Plaintiff’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment [Dkt. Nos. 213-217]. The public
has been given advance notice of the parties’ request to seal these materials, and the Motion was
docketed well in advance of this Court’s decision on the Motion. See In re Knight Publishing
Co., 743 F.2d 231 (4th Cir. 1984). No objection has been lodged on the docket to maintaining
these documents under seal. Accordingly, the issues raised in this Motion are now ripe for
disposition. For good cause shown, the Motion is ALLOWED.
Because the documents relate to a dispositive motion, they are subject to a First
Amendment right of access by the public. See Rushford v. New Yorker Magazine, Inc., 846 F.2d
249, 253 (4th Cir. 1988). This constitutional right of access may only be overcome by a
compelling interest, and any denial of access to the documents must be narrowly tailored to serve
that interest. Id.

The materials sought to be sealed include confidential and competitively sensitive
business information. The Court finds the justification behind sealing this information to be
compelling, particularly in light of no opposition from the public. The Court also believes that
maintaining these materials under seal is narrowly tailored to that interest.

17th
April
SO ORDERED, this ____ day of _____________, 2014.

______________________________
LOUISE W. FLANAGAN
United States District Court Judge

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