Palantir Technologies Inc. v. Abramowitz

Background

Defendants filed an administrative motion asking to keep portions of their brief and supporting exhibits under seal. The filings supported a motion seeking relief from a nondispositive pretrial order issued by a magistrate judge. Defendants said the materials referred to Palantir Technologies Inc.’s alleged trade secrets. The parties filed a joint stipulation supporting the sealing request.

Legal standard

The court explained that court filings generally are available for public inspection. Filings more than tangentially related to the merits of a case may be sealed only for “compelling reasons,” while filings only tangentially related to the merits may be sealed upon a lesser showing of “good cause.” The court also noted that sealing requests must be narrowly tailored and supported by a declaration establishing that the material is sealable under the district’s local rules.

Court’s analysis

The court stated that documents containing commercially sensitive information, including trade secrets, may be sealable. After reviewing the motion, supporting declaration, and joint stipulation, the court found that the parties had provided compelling reasons to seal certain material.

The court granted sealing for the highlighted portion of the motion for relief from the magistrate judge’s nondispositive pretrial order because it quoted the contents of a previously filed trade-secrets disclosure. The court also granted sealing for the entire exhibits identified as Exhibit 2, Exhibit 5, and Exhibit 8 because they contained alleged trade secrets.

Disposition

The court granted defendants’ administrative motion to file under seal portions of the brief and exhibits submitted in support of their motion for relief from the nondispositive pretrial order of the magistrate judge.