ReachLocal, Inc. v. PPC Claims Limited

          Amjad M. Khan (SBN 237325) Jill R. Glennon (SBN 204506) BROWN NERI SMITH & KHAN LLP Attorneys for Plaintiff REACHLOCAL, INC.

          PROTECTIVE ORDER

          Manuel L. Real United States District Court Judge

         WHEREAS, Plaintiff ReachLocal, Inc. (“ReachLocal”) and Defendants PPC Claim Limited (“PPC Claim”) and Kieran Paul Cassidy (collectively the “Parties”) agree that disclosure and discovery activity in this action is likely to involve the production of proprietary business information concerning the Parties;

         WHEREAS, good cause exists for the issuance of a protective order to maximize efficiencies in the conduct of fact discovery, to protect certain confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information and to ensure the preservation of relevant evidence, the Court hereby enters the following Protective Order (“Order”):

         1. The following procedures shall govern the production of all materials (whether in electronic, hard copy or computer readable form) during discovery and presentation to the Court of pleadings in this action, including but not limited to, answers to interrogatories, requests for admissions, all documents produced by parties and nonparties, responses to subpoenas duces tecum, deposition testimony, information contained therein, information provided during any settlement discussions, and all information and documents already provided by the producing or authoring party (collectively, “Discovery Material”).

         2. The following definitions shall apply to this Order:

a. The “Designating Party” shall mean the producing or authoring party of the Discovery Material.

b. The “Receiving Party” shall mean the party receiving Discovery Material.

c. “Confidential Information” means any Discovery Material, which contains non-public, confidential or proprietary information, whether personal or business related, including, without limitation, non-public personally identifying information held by a Designating Party on behalf of its customers and users that may be used to identify a specific individual as set forth in Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028(d)(7) and California Civil Code §1798.80(e). Certain limited types of “Confidential Information” may be further designated, as defined and detailed below, as “Attorney’s Eyes Only Information.”

d. “Attorney’s Eyes Only Information” shall mean documents or information that the Designating Party deems in good faith to constitute or refer to trade secrets and sensitive financial or competitive information or Sensitive Customer Information.

e. “Protected Information” shall mean Confidential Information and Attorney’s Eyes Only Information.

f. “Sensitive Customer Information” shall mean confidential, non-public financial account information about a Designating Party’s customer.

         3. The following instructions shall apply:

a. All Confidential and Attorneys Eyes Only designations shall be made in good faith by the Designating Party and made at the time of disclosure, production, or tender to the Receiving Party, or at such other time as permitted by this Order, provided that the inadvertent failure to so designate does not constitute a waiver of such claim, and a party may so designate Discovery Material after such inadvertent failure, subject to the protections of this Order. Designations of Confidential or Attorneys Eyes Only shall constitute a representation that such Discovery Material has been evaluated by an attorney for the Designating Party and that there is a valid and good faith basis for such designation, and that disclosure of such information to persons other than those permitted access to such material hereunder would cause injury to the Designating Party or non-party.

b. The designation of Discovery Material in the form of documents, responses to admissions and interrogatories, or other tangible materials (including, without limitation, CD-ROMs and tapes) other than depositions or other pre-trial testimony, as Protected Information shall be made by the Designating Party in the following manner, and shall not be disclosed to anyone else.

i. Documents designated “Confidential” shall be so marked by conspicuously affixing the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” or “CONFIDENTIAL PURSUANT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER” or similar designation on each page containing any Confidential Information (or, in the case of computer medium, on the medium and its label and/or cover) to which the designation applies. Such designated Discovery Material shall be identified by Bates number. To the extent practical, the Confidential legend shall be placed near the Bates number.

ii. Documents designated “Attorney’s Eyes Only” shall be so marked by conspicuously affixing the legend “ATTORNEY’S EYES ONLY” or “ATTORNEY’S EYES ONLY PURSUANT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER” or similar designation on each page containing any Attorney’s Eyes Only Information (or, in the case of computer medium, on the medium and its label and/or cover) to which the designation applies. Such designated Discovery Material shall be identified by Bates number. To the extent practical, the Attorney’s Eyes Only legend shall be placed near the Bates number.

c. If a document has more than one designation, the more restrictive or higher confidentiality designation applies.

d. Only information or material that the Designating Party shall, in good faith, deem Protected Information shall be so designated, but an entire document or materials may be designated as Protected Information if any part of it contains Protected Information, unless the Designating Party elects to designate only portions of the document or material as Protective Information. The attorneys of record for such Designating Party shall be deemed to have certified that such counsel believes that the designation has been made in good faith and that there are substantial grounds in law and fact to support the designation.

         4. Protected Information shall not include any Discovery Materials which:

a. Have been or become lawfully in the possession of the Receiving Party without obligations of confidentiality through other litigation or communications other than ...