N.Z. v. Fenix International Limited

Opinion

1 CHhArGisEtoNphSe Br ERR. PMitAouNn S(SOBBNO L29 S0H23A5P) IRO LLP 2 301 N. Lake Avenue, Suite 920 Pasadena, California 91101 3 Telephone: (213) 330-7150 Facsimile: (213) 330-7152 4 Email: christopherp@hbsslaw.com

5 Robert B. Carey (pro hac vice) Leonard W. Aragon (pro hac vice) 6 Michella A. Kras (pro hac vice) HAGENS BERMAN SOBOL SHAPIRO LLP 7 11 West Jefferson, Suite 1000 Phoenix, Arizona 85003 8 Telephone: (602) 840-5900 Facsimile: (602) 840-3012 9 Email: rob@hbsslaw.com leonarda@hbsslaw.com 10 michellak@hbsslaw.com Attorneys for Plaintiffs (continued on next page) 11 (Additional Counsel on Signature Page) 12 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 13 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 14 SOUTHERN DIVISION 15 16 N.Z., R.M., B.L., S.M., and A.L., Case No. 8:24-cv-01655-FWS-SSC individually and on behalf of themselves 17 and all others similarly situated, Assigned to Hon. Fred W. Slaughter 18 Plaintiffs, [DISCOVERY MATTER: Referred to Magistrate Hon. Stephanie S. 19 v. Christensen] 20 FENIX INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, [PROPOSED] STIPULATED 21 FENIX INTERNET LLC, BOSS PROTECTIVE ORDER BADDIES LLC, MOXY 22 MANAGEMENT, UNRULY AGENCY LLC (also d/b/a DYSRPT AGENCY), Complaint filed: July 29, 2024 23 BEHAVE AGENCY LLC, A.S.H. 24 AGENCY, CONTENT X, INC., VERGE AGENCY, INC., AND ELITE 25 CREATORS LLC, 26 Defendants. 27 28 1 DAnavdirde aA R. .M GcoGlde e( p(proro h haac cv ivciec)e ) 2 Shana H. Khader (pro hac vice) TYCKO & ZAVAREEI LLP 3 2000 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 1010 Washington, DC 20006 4 Phone: (202) 973-0900 Facsimile: (202) 973-0950 5 Email: agold@tzlegal.com dmcgee@tzlegal.com 6 skhader@tzlegal.com

7 Andrew W. Knox (pro hac vice) TIMONEY KNOX LLP 8 400 Maryland Drive Fort Washington, PA 19034 9 Phone: (215) 540-2643 Facsimile: (215) 540-2643 10 Email: aknox@timoneyknox.com

11 Keith T. Vernon (pro hac vice) TIMONEY KNOX LLP 12 1717 K Street NW, Suite 900 Washington, DC 20006 13 Phone: (202) 349-9864 Facsimile: (215) 540-2643 14 Email: kvernon@timoneyknox.com

15 Andrew C. Stone (pro hac vice) Seth T. Goertz (pro hac vice) 16 DORSEY & WHITNEY LLP 2325 E Camelback Road, Suite 300 17 Phoenix, AZ 85016 Phone: (602) 735-2691 18 Facsimile: (602) 926-2471 Email: stone.andy@dorsey.com 19 goertz.seth@dorsey.com

20 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 ALL PARTIES, BY AND THROUGH THEIR COUNSEL, STIPULATE AS 2 FOLLOWS: 3 1. INTRODUCTION 4 1.1 Purposes and Limitations. Discovery in this action is likely to involve 5 production of confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special 6 protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than 7 prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby 8 stipulate to and petition the court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. 9 The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all 10 disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from public 11 disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled 12 to confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles. 13 1.2 Good Cause Statement. 14 This action is likely to involve information that qualifies as proprietary trade 15 secrets, commercial, financial, technical and/or proprietary information for which 16 special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than 17 prosecution of this action is warranty. Such confidential and proprietary materials 18 and information consist of, among other things, confidential business or financial 19 information, information regarding confidential business practices, or other 20 confidential, strategic, research, development, or commercial information, etc. that 21 could materially affect their business/financial/commercial interests. Accordingly, 22 to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes 23 over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect information the 24 parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted 25 reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of 26 trial, to address their handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of 27 justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this matter. It is the 28 intent of the parties that information will not be designated as confidential for 1 tactical reasons, including but not limited to shielding any party from liability, and 2 that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained 3 in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be 4 part of the public record of this case. 5 1.3 Acknowledgment of Procedure for Filing Under Seal. The parties 6 further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated 7 Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; 8 Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards 9 that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to file material 10 under seal. 11 There is a strong presumption that the public has a right of access to judicial 12 proceedings and records in civil cases. In connection with non-dispositive 13 motions, good cause must be shown to support a filing under seal. See Kamakana 14 v. City and Cnty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1176 (9th Cir. 2006), Phillips ex rel. 15 Ests. of Byrd v. Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210–11 (9th Cir. 2002), and a 16 specific showing of good cause or compelling reasons with proper evidentiary 17 support and legal justification, must be made with respect to Protected Material 18 that a party seeks to file under seal. The parties’ mere designation of Disclosure or 19 Discovery Material as CONFIDENTIAL does not—without the submission of 20 competent evidence by declaration, establishing that the material sought to be filed 21 under seal qualifies as confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable— 22 constitute good cause. 23 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, 24 then compelling reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown by 25 the designating party, and the relief sought shall be narrowly tailored to serve the 26 specific interest to be protected. See Pintos v. Pac. Creditors Ass’n, 605 F.3d 665, 27 677–79 (9th Cir. 2010). For each item or type of information, document, or thing 28 sought to be filed or introduced under seal in connection with a dispositive motion 1 or trial, the party seeking protection must articulate compelling reasons, supported 2 by specific facts and legal justification, for the requested sealing order. Again, 3 competent evidence supporting the application to file documents under seal must 4 be provided by declaration. 5 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable 6 in its entirety will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be 7 redacted. If the confidential portions of the document can be redacted, then a 8 redacted version for public viewing, omitting only the confidential, privileged, or 9 otherwise protectable portions of the document, shall be filed. Any statement of 10 good cause set forth by the designating party that seeks to file documents under 11 seal in their entirety should include an explanation of why redaction is not feasible. 12 13 2. DEFINITIONS 14 2.1 Action: N.Z., et al. v. Fenix Int’l Ltd., et al. 15 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the 16 designation of information or items as CONFIDENTIAL under this Order. 17 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 18 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for 19 protection under Rule 26(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and as 20 specified above in the Good Cause Statement. 21 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and In-House Counsel (as well as 22 their support staff). 23 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 24 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 25 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 26 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 27 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 28 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced 1 or generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 2 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 3 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as 4 an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 5 2.8 Final Disposition: the later of (1) dismissal of all claims and defenses 6 in this Action, with or without prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the 7 completion and exhaustion of all appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of 8 this Action, including the time limits for filing any motions or applications for 9 extension of time pursuant to applicable law. 10 2.9 In-House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this 11 Action. In-House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other 12 outside counsel. 13 2.10 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or 14 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 15 2.11 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a 16 party to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and 17 have appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm 18 which has appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff. 19 2.12 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 20 employees, consultants, retained experts, In-House Counsel and Outside Counsel of 21 Record (and their support staffs). 22 2.13 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 23 Discovery Material in this Action. 24 2.14 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation- 25 support services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 26 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) 27 and their employees and subcontractors. 28 2.15 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 1 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 2 2.16 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery 3 Material from a Producing Party. 4 5 3. SCOPE 6 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 7 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or 8 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or 9 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or 10 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. The 11 protections conferred by this Order, however, do not cover the following 12 information: (a) any information that is in the public domain at the time of 13 disclosure to a Receiving Party or becomes part of the public domain after its 14 disclosure to a Receiving Party as a result of publication not involving a violation 15 of this Order, including becoming part of the public record through trial or 16 otherwise; and (b) any information known to the Receiving Party prior to the 17 disclosure or obtained by the Receiving Party after the disclosure from a source 18 who obtained the information lawfully and under no obligation of confidentiality 19 to the Designating Party. 20 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the 21 trial judge. This Stipulated Protective Order does not govern the use of Protected 22 Material at trial. 23 24 4. TRIAL AND DURATION 25 The terms of this Stipulated Protective Order apply through Final 26 Disposition of the Action. 27 28 1 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as 2 CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant to this Stipulated Protective Order and 3 used or introduced as an exhibit at trial becomes public and will be presumptively 4 available to all members of the public, including the press, unless compelling 5 reasons supported by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the 6 trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1180–81 7 (distinguishing “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in 8 discovery from “compelling reasons” standard when merits-related documents are 9 part of court record). Accordingly, for such materials, the terms of this Stipulated 10 Protective Order do not extend beyond the commencement of the trial. 11 Even after Final Disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations 12 imposed by this Stipulated Protective Order shall remain in effect until a 13 Designating Party agrees otherwise in writing or a court order otherwise directs. 14 15 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 16 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 17 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under 18 this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that 19 qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for 20 protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written 21 communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, 22 items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept 23 unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 24 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. 25 Designations that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an 26 improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process 27 or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the 28 Designating Party to sanctions. 1 Redacting responsive documents for relevancy purposes is prohibited. 2 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 3 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 4 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable 5 designation. 6 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 7 this Stipulated Protective Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) 8 below), or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that 9 qualifies for protection under this Stipulated Protective Order must be clearly so 10 designated before the material is disclosed or produced. 11 Designation in conformity with this Stipulated Protective Order requires: 12 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic 13 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 14 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend 15 “CONFIDENTIAL” to each page that contains protected material. If only a 16 portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing 17 Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making 18 appropriate markings in the margins). 19 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for 20 inspection need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party 21 has indicated which documents it would like copied and produced. During the 22 inspection and before the designation, all of the material made available for 23 inspection shall be deemed CONFIDENTIAL. After the inspecting Party has 24 identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must 25 determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this 26 Stipulated Protective Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, the 27 Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL” legend to each page that 28 contains Protected Material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page 1 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the 2 protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). To the 3 extent the Producing Party elects to produce materials by providing the original 4 storage media containing the Discovery Material (e.g., CD-ROM, floppy disk, 5 DVD, thumb drive), the Designating Party shall include “Confidential” in the file 6 or directory name, or by affixing the legend “Confidential” or “Highly 7 Confidential” to such media. 8 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identify 9 the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the 10 deposition all protected testimony. 11 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and 12 for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on 13 the exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the 14 “CONFIDENTIAL” legend. If only a portion or portions of the information 15 warrants protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the 16 protected portion(s). 17 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 18 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive 19 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such 20 material. An inadvertent failure to designate shall be considered “timely corrected” 21 when the Designating Party (1) notifies the Receiving Party of the inadvertent 22 failure to designate and (2) within seven (7) days of such notice, reproduces the 23 Protected Materials, properly designated in accordance with this Section. During 24 the seven-day period and upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving 25 Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in 26 accordance with the provisions of this Stipulated Protective Order and, upon receipt 27 of the reproduced materials, shall take reasonable efforts to destroy or return any 28 such materials that do not contain the “CONFIDENTIAL” designation. 1 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 2 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 3 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the court’s 4 Scheduling Order. 5 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 6 resolution process under Local Rule 37.1 et seq. and with Section 2 of Judge 7 Christensen’s Civil Procedures titled “Brief Pre-Discovery Motion Conference.”1 8 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be 9 on the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper 10 purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other 11 parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating 12 Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall 13 continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to which it is 14 entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the court rules on the 15 challenge. 16

17 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 18 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that 19 is disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with 20 this Action only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action 21 unless otherwise agreed to by the Parties or by court order. Notwithstanding the 22 foregoing, all parties, except Defendant Moxy Management, agree to permitting 23 the sharing of discovery documents between this case and two related cases 24 pending in the Northern District of Illinois: McFadden, et al. v. Fenix Internet, 25 LLC, et al., Case No. 1:23-cv-06151, and M. Brunner, et al. v. Fenix Internet, 26 27 1 Judge Christensen’s Procedures are available at 28 https://www.cacd.uscourts.gov/honorable-stephanie-s-christensen. 1 LLC, et al., Case No. 1:25-cv-3244.2 Such Protected Material may be disclosed 2 only to the categories of persons and under the conditions described in this Order. 3 When the Action reaches a Final Disposition, a Receiving Party must comply with 4 the provisions of section 13 below. 5 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 6 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons 7 authorized under this Stipulated Protective Order. 8 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 9 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a 10 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated 11 “CONFIDENTIAL” only: 12 (a) to the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as 13 well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably 14 necessary to disclose the information for this Action; 15 (b) to the officers, directors, and employees (including In-House Counsel) 16 of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 17 (c) to Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 18 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 19 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 20 (d) to the court and its personnel; 21 (e) to court reporters and their staff; 22 (f) to professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 23 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have 24 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 25 (g) to the author or recipient of a document containing the information or 26 27 2 Plaintiffs’ counsel retains the right to seek leave to amend this order to require that Defendant Moxy Management allow the sharing of documents in McFadden 28 and Brunner. 1 a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 2 (h) during their depositions, to witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in 3 the Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary, provided: (1) the deposing 4 party requests that the witness sign the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be 5 Bound” (Exhibit A); and (2) the witness will not be permitted to keep any 6 confidential information unless they sign the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to 7 Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or 8 ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to 9 depositions that reveal Protected Material may not be disclosed to anyone except 10 as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; 11 (i) to any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 12 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions; and 13 (j) persons or entities that provide litigation support services (e.g., 14 photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and 15 organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees 16 and subcontractors.

17 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED 18 PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION 19 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 20 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 21 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 22 23 (a) within five business days of receipt of such subpoena or order, notify 24 in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall include a copy of the 25 subpoena or court order; 26 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order 27 to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the 28 subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall 1 include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and 2 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be 3 pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 4 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served 5 with the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in 6 this action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which 7 the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s 8 permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking 9 protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions 10 should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action 11 to disobey a lawful directive from another court. 12 13 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 14 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 15 9.1 Application. The terms of this Stipulated Protective Order are 16 applicable to information produced by a Non-Party in this Action and designated as 17 “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced by Non-Parties in connection 18 with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. 19 Nothing in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from 20 seeking additional protections. 21 9.2 Notification. In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery 22 request, to produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the 23 Party is subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non- 24 Party’s confidential information, then the Party shall: 25 (a) within five business days of receipt of such discovery request, notify 26 in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that some or all of the 27 information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a Non-Party; 28 (b) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non- 1 Party, if requested. 2 9.3 Conditions of Production. If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective 3 order from this court within 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying 4 information, the Receiving Party may produce the Non-Party’s confidential 5 information responsive to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a 6 protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its 7 possession or control that is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non- 8 Party before a determination by the court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the 9 Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in this court of 10 its Protected Material. 11 12 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 13 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has 14 disclosed Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized 15 under this Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) 16 notify in writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its 17 best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform 18 the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the 19 terms of this Order, (d) request such person or persons to execute the 20 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), and (e) make best 21 effort to ensure the unauthorized copies are not further distributed. 22

23 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 24 PROTECTED MATERIAL 25 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 26 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other 27 protection, the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Rule 28 1 26(b)(5)(B) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. This provision is not 2 intended to modify whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order 3 that provides for production without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Rules 4 502(d) and (e) of the Federal Rules of Evidence, insofar as the parties reach an 5 agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or information covered 6 by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the parties may 7 incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted to the 8 court. 9 10 12. MISCELLANEOUS 11 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Stipulated Protective Order 12 abridges the right of any person to seek its modification by the court in the future. 13 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 14 Stipulated Protective Order no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to 15 object to disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not 16 addressed in this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right 17 to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this 18 Stipulated Protective Order. 19 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 20 Protected Material must comply with Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material may 21 only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the 22 specific Protected Material at issue. If a Party's request to file Protected Material 23 under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the 24 information in the public record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 25

26 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 27 After the Final Disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 28 1 60 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must 2 return all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As 3 used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, 4 compilations, summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of 5 the Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, 6 the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party 7 (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day 8 deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected 9 Material that was returned or destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party 10 has not retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other 11 format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Nothing in this 12 Paragraph shall require any Party to access its inaccessible cloud storage for 13 purposes of destroying Protected Materials backed up onto those databases. 14 Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel is entitled to retain an archival copy of all 15 pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal 16 memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney 17 work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials 18 contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute 19 Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4. 20 21 14. VIOLATION 22 Any violation of this Stipulated Protective Order may be punished by any and all 23 appropriate measures including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or 24 monetary sanctions. 25

26 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 27

28 1 DATED: July 2, 2025 Respectfully submitted,

2 HAGENS BERMAN SOBOL SHAPIRO LLP 3 By: /s/ Robert B. Carey 4 ROBERT B. CAREY 5 Attorneys for Plaintiffs

6 Pursuant to CIV. L.R. 5-4.3.4(a)(2)(i), I attest that all other signatories listed, and on whose behalf the filing is 7 submitted, concur in the filing’s content and have authorized the filing. 8

9 SKADDEN, ARPS, SLATE, MEAGHER & FLOM LLP 10 By: /s/ Jason D. Russell 11 JASON D. RUSSELL Attorneys for Specially Appearing Defendants 12 Fenix International Limited and Fenix Internet LLC 13 KINGFISHER LAW APC 14 By: /s/ Nithin Kumar 15 NITHIN KUMAR Attorney for Defendant 16 Content X, Inc. 17 DENTONS US LLP 18

19 By: /s/ Trinity Jordan TRINITY JORDAN 20 Attorneys for Defendant Elite Creators LLC 21 22 BIRD, MARELLA, RHOW, LINCENBERG, DROOKS & NESSIM, LLP 23

24 By: /s/ Barr Benyamin BARR BENYAMIN 25 Attorneys for Defendant Moxy Management 26 27 28 1 CONSTANGY BROOKS SMITH AND PROPHETE 2 LLP 3 By: /s/ Younjin Lee 4 YOl INIIN LEE Attorneys for Defendant 5 Verge Agency, Inc. 6 THE JACOBS LAW FIRM, PC 7 8 By: /s/ Matthew Jacobs MATTHEW JACOBS Attorney for Defendants 9 Unruly Agency LUC and Behave Agency LLC 10 11 2 FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 13 ZA 14 DATED: July 3, 2025 15 HON. STEPHANIE S. CHRISTENSEN 16 United States Magistrate Judge 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -17-

1 EXHIBIT A 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 I, ________________________ [print or type full name], of 4 _________________ [print or type full address], declare under penalty of 5 perjury that I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective 6 Order that was issued by the United States District Court for the Central District 7 of California on [date] in the case of N.Z., et al. v. Fenix International Limited, 8 et al., Case No. 8:24-cv-01655-FWS-SSC. I agree to comply with and to be 9 bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and 10 acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and 11 punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose 12 in any manner any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective 13 Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of 14 this Order. 15 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District 16 Court for the Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms 17 of this Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur 18 after termination of this action. I hereby appoint ________________________ 19 [print or type full name] of ________________________ [print or type full 20 address and telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in 21 connection with this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this 22 Stipulated Protective Order. 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 Date: ___________________________ 2 City and State where sworn and 3 signed: ___________________________ 4 Printed name: ___________________________ 5 Signature: ___________________________ 6

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28