North Star IP Holdings, LLC v. Icon Trade Services LLC
- Clarke
- 1:22-cv-07324
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
North Star v. Icon: Judge Clarke temporarily granted the parties’ motions to seal materials pending review.
North Star IP Holdings, LLC, Icon Trade Services LLC, the RM Defendants, and certain nonparties whose business, transaction, ownership, or financial information appeared in the materials; public access to those materials was temporarily restricted.
What happened
In North Star IP Holdings, LLC v. Icon Trade Services LLC, the parties asked the court to seal or redact portions of papers supporting North Star’s summary-judgment reply. The materials included emails about a possible asset purchase, a proposed asset-purchase letter, ownership information, and other business information.
The parties said the information was confidential and could affect the financial or competitive interests of the parties and certain nonparties. Icon did not oppose some requests and joined one request; it also sought redactions to another exhibit.
Judge Jessica G. L. Clarke temporarily granted the letter-motions to seal. The court said it would decide whether to keep the materials sealed or redacted when it decided the underlying motion, and restricted access to the parties’ attorneys and court personnel.
The detailed version
- North Star IP Holdings, LLC v. Icon Trade Services LLC · No. 1:22-cv-07324
- Clarke
- Aug. 28, 2023
What the parties requested
The parties filed letter-motions asking the court to seal or redact portions of North Star’s and the RM Defendants’ reply papers supporting a motion for summary judgment. The requests concerned exhibits and declarations containing alleged confidential business, transaction, ownership, and financial information.
The requested materials included:
- Exhibit X, containing confidential emails about Bluestar’s potential purchase of the RM Defendants’ assets; - Exhibit Y, containing a confidential proposal from a third-party entity to purchase assets from RML; - part of Uri Minkoff’s declaration identifying the owners of Rebecca Minkoff Holding Company, LLC; and - redactions to Exhibit V requested by Icon, which North Star and the RM Defendants did not oppose.
The parties also sought to maintain other redactions in their reply papers, including their response to Icon’s statement of additional material facts, under an earlier court order.
Court’s ruling
Judge Jessica G. L. Clarke temporarily granted the parties’ letter-motions to seal, identified as ECF Nos. 145 and 150. The court stated that it would assess whether to keep the materials sealed or redacted when deciding the underlying motion.
The Clerk of Court was directed to terminate ECF No. 145 and leave ECF Nos. 146 through 149 temporarily under seal. Access was restricted to attorneys appearing for the parties and court personnel. The order addressed temporary sealing only; the text provided does not state the court’s final decision on whether the materials would remain sealed or redacted.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.