North Star IP Holdings, LLC v. Icon Trade Services LLC

Background

Icon Trade Services LLC, identified in the letter as the defendant, counterclaimant, and third-party plaintiff, wrote to the court about deposition materials submitted with the parties’ summary judgment motions and about sealing portions of its filings. The letter stated that full, searchable deposition transcripts, including indices, had been uploaded to the court’s file-upload site, while excerpted versions were attached to the summary judgment papers because of exhibit page limits.

Requests to Seal

The parties jointly sought to seal Exhibit P to the declaration of Joshua R. Kornfield, which contained excerpts from Angela Poppe’s deposition concerning confidential financial terms of Icon’s license agreements, including royalties allegedly owed by Icon and royalty percentages in the agreements. Icon separately sought to seal portions of Exhibits A, G, H, and O to the Kornfield Declaration. The requested redactions concerned testimony about a confidential license involving a friend of Joseph Edery and testimony from Uri Minkoff, Gary Herwitz, and Christian Trunnell about Icon’s anticipated relationship with Bluestar regarding the sale of the Rebecca Minkoff assets.

North Star IP Holdings, LLC and the third-party defendants, Jalapeno Pizza Holdings LLC, formerly Rebecca Minkoff Holdings LLC, and Jalapeno Pizza LLC, formerly Rebecca Minkoff LLC, requested additional redactions in Icon’s opposition and related exhibits. Icon stated that it did not oppose those requested redactions. The letter also stated that some of the requested redactions did not relate to the summary judgment issues, while others did.

Court’s Action

The court stated that the parties’ letter-motions to seal, ECF Nos. 134 and 139, were granted temporarily. The court said it would decide whether to keep the materials sealed or redacted when deciding the underlying motion. It directed the Clerk of Court to terminate ECF Nos. 112, 134, and 139 and to leave ECF Nos. 123–127 and 135–138 temporarily under seal. Access was restricted to attorneys appearing for the parties and court personnel.

The court also stated that it would send the parties an email link for uploading the full deposition transcripts with indices. Judge Jessica G. L. Clarke signed the order. This order addressed temporary sealing and transcript submission; it did not resolve the parties’ summary judgment motions.