Bayer AG & Miles, Inc. v. Barr Laboratories, Inc.

162 F.R.D. 456, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7684, 1995 WL 472708
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedJune 5, 1995
DocketNo. 92 Civ. 0381 (WK) (AJP)
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 162 F.R.D. 456 (Bayer AG & Miles, Inc. v. Barr Laboratories, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bayer AG & Miles, Inc. v. Barr Laboratories, Inc., 162 F.R.D. 456, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7684, 1995 WL 472708 (E.D.N.Y. 1995).

Opinion

OPINION & ORDER

PECK, United States Magistrate Judge:

Plaintiffs Bayer AG and Miles, Inc. (hereafter, “Bayer”), the owners of a patent for an antibacterial agent known as “ciprofloxacin,” sued Barr Laboratories, Inc. for patent infringement as a result of Barr’s application to the Food and Drug Administration for approval of a drug containing the same ingredients as ciprofloxacin. In May 1992, shortly after this suit began, the parties entered into, and the Court approved, a stipulated confidentiality/protective order limiting access to “confidential” discovery information to outside counsel and independent experts. Barr now moves to modify that stipulated Protective Order to allow its in-house counsel to attend depositions of Bayer’s witnesses and experts.

The Second Circuit has not addressed the issue of what legal standard applies to a party (as opposed to an intervening non-party) seeking to modify a previously stipulated protective order for private (as opposed to “public interest”) reasons. The Court holds that, in deciding whether to modify a protective order upon a party’s request for non-public interest reasons, the Court must balance the following factors: (1) good cause, (2) the nature of the protective ordtir, (3) foreseeability of the requested modification, and (4) reliance on the protective order.

For the reasons set forth below, the Court denies Barr’s motion because Barr has not met its burden of showing “good cause” to modify the stipulated Protective Order.

FACTS

The Stipulated Protective Order and its Negotiation

Bayer commenced this patent infringement action on January 16, 1992. In May 1992, the parties stipulated to, and the Court approved, a Protective Order so as to “preserve the legitimate business interests of the parties” by “preventing] unnecessary dissemination or disclosure of such confidential information.” (Protective Order at p. 1.)

The Protective Order allows each party to designate “information that the designating party believes constitutes ... trade secrets, processes, operations, research, technical or developmental information ... or other proprietary data or information of commercial value” as “Confidential” information subject to protection. (Protective Order, ¶ 1.) The Protective Order further provides that “confidential” information can be used “solely for the purposes of this litigation and not for any business or competitive purposes,” and must be destroyed or returned at the conclusion of the action. (Id., ¶¶ 6, 11.) These provisions are typical in confidentiality agreements and orders, particularly in cases between business competitors where parties must have access through discovery to trade secrets and similar commercially-sensitive information in order to develop their cases.

Most importantly for purposes of this motion, the Protective Order limits access to confidential information to outside counsel, independent consultants or experts, and the Court. (Protective Order, ¶ 5.)

The parties agree that during the negotiation of the Protective Order, there was no explicit discussion as to whether in-house counsel should have access to confidential information. Barr’s counsel alleges that the parties never addressed the specific issue of in-house access because neither side request[459]*459ed such access.1 Bayer’s counsel, on the other hand, has stated that his intent was to restrict in-house counsel from having access to confidential information.2

At the time the Protective Order was negotiated in May 1992, Barr employed attorney Paul M. Bisaro (who was a member of the law firm of Winston & Strawn) as “acting General Counsel,” and the Protective Order did not give Mr. Bisaro access to confidential information. (Affidavit of Kara L. Flanery, in-house counsel for Barr [“Flanery Aff.”], ¶ 3.) In July 1992, Barr hired Mr. Bisaro as in-house General Counsel. (Id.) In February 1994, Bair hired Kara L. Flanery as Associate Counsel and assigned to her the task of monitoring Barr’s litigation, including this case. (Id.) In the spring of 1994, Barr hired Williams & Connolly as additional outside counsel for this case. (See Greco Aff. ¶10.)

Barr’s Motion to Modify the Protective Order

On February 27,1995, Barr sought to have Ms. Flanery present at the deposition of an inventor of the Bayer patent at issue. (Ban-Brief at 3.) Bayer objected on the ground that Ms. Flanery was not authorized to view confidential information. (Id.) The parties conferred with Magistrate Judge Roberts, who advised the parties that, in the absence of agreement, Ms. Flanery’s presence would require modification of the Protective Order, which Barr should seek by formal motion. (Id.)

Barr now seeks a modification of the Protective Order to allow Ms. Flanery to be present at depositions, and to review documents used at depositions. Barr asserts that Ms. Flanery must be permitted to “evaluate the testimony and demeanor” of key witnesses, consult with outside counsel regarding strategy, and “make informed decisions regarding the progress of the litigation.” (Barr Brief at 1, 3; Barr Reply Brief at 1 n. 1.) Ms. Flanery has stated that she will comply with all provisions of the Protective Order and will not take possession of confidential documents. (Barr Reply Brief at 1, n. 1.) She also agrees to leave the deposition, upon Bayer’s request, “for any portion of the questioning which counsel for Bayer asserts is reasonably likely to illicit [sic] information which is proprietary, currently non-public and of commercial value to Bayer.” (Id.; Flanery Aff. ¶ 5.)

Bayer opposes Barr’s motion on the ground that Barr cannot show “compelling need” or “extraordinary circumstances” to justify modification of the Protective Order. Bayer asserts that Barr’s hiring of inside counsel was foreseeable when the stipulated Protective Order was negotiated. (Bayer Brief at 2.) Bayer claims that in reliance on the Protective Order, “[i]n order to expedite the case, [Bayer] made only limited objections to the relevance and burden of [Barr’s discovery] requests,” producing “over six million pages of documents.” (Greco Aff. ¶ 7.) Bayer further alleges that Barr’s discovery requests “covered nearly all proprietary aspects of an entire research program of which Bayer is a world leader” — research materials that Bayer maintains in the course of its business “under strict confidence.” (Id. ¶ 5.) [460]*460Bayer explained the need for confidentiality of this material:

Numerous other companies have entered the quinolone antibacterial field on the heels of Bayer’s great success, and Bayer was concerned that the years of accumulated research would be of enormous competitive value. Bayer’s concern was particularly great here because Barr is a generic company whose business is to copy other companies’ products and it is affiliated with companies headquartered in other countries in the same business.

(Greco Aff. ¶ 5.)

As an alternative to Ms. Flanery’s presence at the deposition, Bayer offers to provide Ms. Flanery with the non-confidential portions of deposition transcripts and videotapes (all the depositions are being videotaped). (Bayer Brief at 6 & n. 3.)3

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Bluebook (online)
162 F.R.D. 456, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7684, 1995 WL 472708, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bayer-ag-miles-inc-v-barr-laboratories-inc-nyed-1995.