FuboTV Inc. v. The Walt Disney Company
- Garnett
- 1:24-cv-01363
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In FuboTV Inc. v. The Walt Disney Company, Judge Garnett granted five motions to seal commercially sensitive filings.
FuboTV Inc., FuboTV Media Inc., Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc., Fox Corporation, The Walt Disney Company, ESPN, Inc., ESPN Enterprises, Inc., Hulu, LLC, and members of the public seeking access to the specified court filings.
What happened
In FuboTV Inc. v. The Walt Disney Company, the parties asked the court to seal or redact documents supporting FuboTV’s request for a preliminary injunction, the defendants’ requests to dismiss, and FuboTV’s amended complaint.
The court found that the documents contained confidential business information, including carriage agreements, financial analyses, marketing data, business strategies, and a sensitive business agreement. It granted FuboTV’s two motions, Warner Bros. Discovery’s motion, Fox Corporation’s motion, and the Disney defendants’ motion to seal.
Judge Garnett ruled that protecting the parties’ commercially sensitive information justified limiting public access to the specified materials. She directed the Clerk of Court to terminate the five sealing motions.
The detailed version
- FuboTV Inc. v. The Walt Disney Company · No. 1:24-cv-01363
- Garnett
- Apr. 30, 2024
Background
The court considered five letter-motions seeking permission to file documents under seal or in redacted form. The documents supported FuboTV’s pending motion for a preliminary injunction, the defendants’ pending motions to dismiss the complaint, and FuboTV’s amended complaint.
FuboTV sought to seal or redact its preliminary-injunction memorandum and supporting declarations, as well as limited portions of its amended complaint. The parties identified commercially sensitive and confidential information, including carriage agreements, proprietary financial analyses, marketing data, and business strategies. Some of this information was similar or identical to information that had previously been ordered sealed in an earlier related proceeding.
Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. and Fox Corporation separately sought to seal or redact portions of their dismissal memoranda that referred to the same confidential materials. The Walt Disney Company, ESPN, Inc., ESPN Enterprises, Inc., and Hulu, LLC sought to seal or redact portions of their dismissal materials and a motion to stay discovery. They also asked to seal entirely an exhibit to a supporting declaration and related references to that exhibit. The court found that the exhibit was a sensitive business agreement concerning the parties’ ongoing commercial relationship.
Court’s reasoning
The court recognized a general public-access right to judicial documents but explained that the right is not absolute. It balanced that access against the need to protect confidential commercial information. After examining the documents and considering the parties’ representations, the court concluded that sealing or redaction was necessary to protect the business information of FuboTV and the defendants.
Ruling
The court granted the Fubo preliminary-injunction motion to seal, the Fubo amended-complaint motion to seal, Warner Bros. Discovery’s motion to seal, Fox Corporation’s motion to seal, and the Disney defendants’ motion to seal. The court also directed the Clerk of Court to terminate Docket Nos. 73, 117, 118, 124, and 143.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.