Finjan, LLC. v. Cisco Systems Inc.

Background

Cisco filed an administrative motion asking to seal portions of its reply brief and exhibits submitted in support of its motion to strike Finjan’s expert reports on infringement. The sealing request was filed at ECF 329.

Legal standard

The court explained that judicial records generally carry a strong presumption of public access. Because the materials concerned a motion more than tangentially related to the underlying case, Cisco had to show compelling reasons for sealing them. The request also had to be narrowly tailored to protect only material that was legally sealable, such as confidential business information or trade secrets.

Ruling

The court found that Cisco had shown compelling reasons to seal certain material and that the proposed redactions were narrowly tailored. It granted the request for the highlighted portions of Cisco’s reply brief at page 4, lines 11–14, 18–19, and 27–28, and page 5, lines 7–8. It also granted the request to seal Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2 to the supporting declaration in their entirety.

The court reasoned that the documents contained confidential information about the structure and operation of Cisco’s accused products, and that public disclosure could disadvantage Cisco by allowing competitors to use the information. The court therefore granted Cisco’s motion to seal at ECF 329 and stated that no further action was necessary.