CF Traverse LLC v. Amprius, Inc.

Background

The parties submitted a joint letter about a discovery dispute. CF Traverse LLC filed an administrative motion asking to seal portions of Amprius, Inc.’s section of that letter because Amprius had designated the information as confidential.

The proposed sealed material described sales of THL-5000 batteries, the status and location of certain Amprius subsidiaries, the period and approximate amount of sales, and financial data concerning those sales. It also described differences between products developed or sold by Amprius’s U.S. and Chinese subsidiaries.

Amprius supported sealing through a declaration from outside counsel. The declaration stated that the material was internal product-development and financial information, was not publicly available, and was treated as highly confidential. Amprius asserted that disclosure could cause irreparable, competitive, and economic harm.

Court’s Analysis

The court first said the parties’ procedure for raising Amprius’s confidentiality claim was questionable under the local rules. Because the material appeared in Amprius’s portion of a joint letter, the court said Amprius could have filed the sealing motion itself when the letter was submitted, with a supporting declaration.

The court then held that Amprius had not met its burden under either potentially applicable standard: the stricter “compelling reasons” standard or the more relaxed “good cause” standard for material connected only indirectly to the case’s merits. The court noted that the declaration did not show that Amprius’s corporate structure or subsidiary locations were sensitive. It also noted that the description of silicon nanowire anodes appeared on Amprius’s public website, and that the financial information concerned sales more than five years earlier by a subsidiary that had ceased to exist and a product Amprius no longer sold. The declaration did not explain what harm disclosure would cause.

Disposition

The court DENIED the motion to file under seal. It ORDERED Amprius to file an unredacted public version of the discovery letter by August 19, 2020. The order resolved the sealing request and did not decide the underlying discovery dispute.