Technical LED Intellectual Property, LLC v. BVGA Mipow (USA) Co., Ltd ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 TECHNICAL LED INTELLECTUAL Case No. 19-cv-00393-JCS PROPERTY, LLC, 8 Plaintiff, ORDER DENYING WITHOUT 9 PREJUDICE ADMINISTRATIVE v. MOTION TO FILE UNDER SEAL 10 BVGA MIPOW (USA) CO., LTD, Re: Dkt. No. 29 11 Defendant. 12 13 On January 6, 2020, Plaintiff Technical LED Intellectual Property, LLC (“Technical 14 LED”) filed an administrative motion to file under seal supplemental evidence in support of its 15 motion for default judgment. See Admin. Mot. (dkt. 29). In a federal civil action, documents 16 “more than tangentially related to the underlying cause of action”—a standard met here for 17 documents offered to prove Technical LED’s damages—may be filed under seal only for 18 “compelling reasons.” See Ctr. for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Grp., LLC, 809 F.3d 1092, 1096–99, 19 1101 (9th Cir. 2016). Requests to file under seal “must be narrowly tailored to seek sealing only 20 of sealable material,” which often requires redactions rather than sealing of documents in their 21 entirety. See Civ. L.R. 79-5(b). 22 For most of the documents at issue, the only basis for sealing stated in the accompanying 23 declaration of Technical LED’s attorney is that non-parties Amazon and Best Buy designated the 24 documents as confidential when they produced them to Technical LED in response to subpoenas. 25 See Heidelberger Decl. (dkt. 29-1). Parties’ private agreement to designate material as 26 confidential is not alone sufficient to show compelling reasons to depart from the presumption of 27 public access to judicial proceedings. Moreover, the Court discerns no threat of harm for ] information for Defendant BVGA Mipow (USA) Co. Ltd. and sales figures for the particular line 2 || of allegedly infringing “smartbulb” products at issue in this case, which make up a de minimis 3 fraction of the business conducted by two of the country’s largest electronics retailers. See Ex. 4 1-M (dkt. 29-6) (summary chart indicating total sales of less than $500,000 for each retailer across 5 several years and products at issue). The administrative motion to seal those documents is 6 || DENIED, without prejudice to Amazon and Best Buy filing their own motions to seal. 7 Technical LED is ORDERED to serve a copy of this order on Amazon and Best Buy by 8 any means reasonably calculated to provide actual notice, and to file proof of such service in the 9 || record of this action no later than March 24, 2020. If Amazon or Best Buy believes that 10 || compelling reasons warrant sealing of the documents at issue, they may file their own motions no 1] later than March 31, 2020. If no such motions are filed by that deadline, Technical LED shall file 12 || the documents in the public record no later than April 7, 2020. 13 The Court also notes that Technical LED failed to file copies of certain Excel spreadsheets 14 at issue in the record of this action. Docket entries 29-2 through 29-5, for Exhibits 1-C, 1-D, 1-E, 3 15 and 1-H, indicate that the files at issue were delivered to chambers on a thumb drive. Documents 16 || that cannot be filed electronically via ECF must be manually filed with the Clerk’s office pursuant 17 || to Civil Local Rule 5-1(f). When Technical LED files these documents in the public record—or if 18 || the Court grants leave to file them under seal on a motion by Best Buy or Amazon—Technical 19 || LED must comply with that local rule. 20 The only document at issue that does not pertain to Amazon or Best Buy sales information 21 is Exhibit 1-O, which includes Technical LED’s confidential settlement agreements with other 22 || alleged infringers. The PDF version of that document filed in the ECF record at docket entry 29-7 23 cannot be opened. Because that document has not yet been effectively filed, the motion to file 24 || under seal is DENIED, without prejudice to Technical LED filing a renewed motion with an 25 accessible copy of the document attached no later than March 31, 2020. 26 IT ISSO ORDERED. 27 || Dated: March 17, 2020 6 □ 28 é ief ‘Magistrate Tadge