Google LLC v. Point Financial, Inc.

Background

The court considered two administrative motions by Google LLC to file portions of court documents under seal. Point Financial, Inc. did not oppose either motion.

Motion at ECF No. 137

Google sought to seal portions of its response to Point Financial’s motion to amend its counterclaim. Google identified two categories of information: a term concerning confidential and proprietary technology involved in the litigation, and direct quotations from a Master Purchase Agreement and Amendment 2 to a Statement of Work. Google argued that disclosure could reveal confidential technology, weaken its competitive advantage, and expose strategic decisions about contract terms offered to its contracting partners.

Because the sealing request concerned an opposition to a motion to amend that was more than tangentially related to the underlying claims, the court applied the “compelling reasons” standard. The court found compelling reasons to seal the identified materials because they contained confidential business information whose disclosure could harm Google’s competitive position. The court also found the request narrowly tailored.

The court therefore GRANTED ECF No. 137. The order allowed the highlighted portions of Google’s response at ECF No. 136 to remain sealed, specifically the portions identified at pages 2:10, 15, 18–21; 3:8, 10; 9:19–20; and 10:5.

Motion at ECF No. 134

Google also sought to seal portions of an earlier response to Point Financial’s motion to amend its counterclaim. The court had struck that underlying response from the docket because it did not comply with the court’s standing orders. Because the document Google sought to seal was no longer on the docket, the court TERMINATED ECF No. 134 AS MOOT.

Disposition

The court ordered that Google’s administrative motion at ECF No. 134 was terminated as moot and that Google’s administrative motion at ECF No. 137 was granted.