Portal Instruments, Inc. v. LEO Pharma A/S

Background

The court had scheduled a January 4, 2023, conference to discuss the parties’ proposed case-management plan and LEO Pharma A/S’s anticipated motion to dismiss. The parties’ joint letter and proposed plan raised no significant issues. The court also stated that the scheduling order and case-management plan would issue separately and described procedures for status letters, pre-motion letters, discovery deadlines, and possible settlement discussions.

The dispute concerns the parties’ Collaboration and License Agreement. On December 23, 2022, LEO Pharma filed a motion to seal portions of that agreement containing royalty rates due to Portal Instruments, Inc., and specific budget amounts for the project under development. The court stated that these categories of information were unrelated to the parties’ dispute.

Sealing Ruling

Judge Schofield granted LEO Pharma’s renewed motion to seal. The court explained that the complaint and its exhibits are judicial documents subject to a strong presumption of public access, but that the presumption may be overcome by a plausible showing of competitive harm from revealing specific business information and strategies. The court found that LEO Pharma’s renewed motion sufficiently alleged a risk of competitive harm and that the proposed redactions were narrowly tailored.

Portal Instruments was directed to re-file the complaint and its exhibits with LEO Pharma’s proposed redactions by January 4, 2023. The parties were also directed to be prepared to discuss LEO Pharma’s anticipated motion to dismiss at the scheduled conference. The order does not rule on that anticipated motion or resolve the underlying dispute.