Skillz Platform Inc. v. AviaGames Inc.

Background

AviaGames filed a renewed administrative motion to seal highlighted portions of the transcript of an October 5, 2023 hearing. The hearing concerned an emergency motion for a protective order. The court had previously denied AviaGames’ request without prejudice because its proposed redactions were not narrowly tailored. In the renewed motion, AviaGames submitted narrower redactions and argued that the transcript portions contained confidential trade-secret and business information. Skillz did not oppose the motion.

Legal standard

The court applied the "good cause" standard to the request because the transcript concerned a discovery hearing. Under that standard, courts may seal material when good cause supports restricting public access. The court also applied the Northern District of California’s rule requiring a sealing request to explain the reasons for sealing, provide evidentiary support when necessary, and narrowly limit the request to sealable material.

Court’s analysis

The court stated that trade secrets may be sealed for good cause. It also explained that confidential source code and confidential business information that could harm a party’s competitive position satisfy the more demanding "compelling reasons" standard and therefore also satisfy the less demanding good-cause standard. The court found good cause to seal the information in the highlighted transcript portions and found AviaGames’ renewed request narrowly tailored to seal only sealable material.

Disposition

The court granted AviaGames’ renewed administrative motion to file the transcript under seal. It ordered AviaGames to file a redacted version of the transcript on the public docket within seven days of the order.