Ohanian v. Apple Inc.

District Court, S.D. New York·Decided November 16, 2021·No. 1:20-cv-05162·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK TIGRAN OHANIAN and REGGE LOPEZ, individually and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated, Civil Action No. 1:20-cv-05162 Plaintiffs, v. APPLE INC. and T-MOBILE USA, INC., Defendants. AGREED PROTECTIVE ORDER REGARDING THE DISCLOSURE AND USE OF DISCOVERY MATERIALS Plaintiffs Tigran Ohanian and Regge Lopez (“Plaintiffs”) and Defendants Apple Inc. and T-Mobile USA, Inc. (“Defendants”) anticipate that documents, testimony, or information containing or reflecting confidential, personal, proprietary, trade secret, and/or commercially sensitive information are likely to be disclosed or produced during the course of discovery, initial disclosures, and supplemental disclosures in this case and request that the Court enter this Order setting forth the conditions for treating, obtaining, and using such information. Pursuant to Rule 26(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court finds good cause for the following Agreed Protective Order Regarding the Disclosure and Use of

Discovery Materials (“Order” or “Protective Order”). 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS (a) Protected Material designated under the terms of this Protective Order shall be used by a Receiving Party solely for this case, and shall not be used directly or indirectly for any other purpose whatsoever, including without limitation any other litigation, patent prosecution or acquisition, patent reexamination or reissue proceedings, or any business or competitive purpose or function. Protected Material shall not be distributed, disclosed or made available to anyone except as expressly provided in this Order.

(b) The Parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures during discovery, or in the course of making initial or supplemental disclosures under Rule 26(a). Designations under this Order shall be made with care and shall not be made absent a good faith belief that the designated material satisfies the criteria set forth below. If it comes to a Producing Party’s attention that designated material does not qualify for protection at all, or does not qualify for the level of protection initially asserted, the Producing Party must promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing or changing the designation. The mass or indiscriminate designation of documents as “CONFIDENTIAL” to impair or delay the discovery process is expressly prohibited. The fact that multiple documents may be designated “CONFIDENTIAL” or “CONFIDENTIAL – ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY” shall

not, by itself, be a basis for concluding that the documents were so designated to impair or delay discovery. (c) The Parties agree that this Order does not address the production of source code (including source and source code listings, object code and object code listings, executable code, and similar sensitive software code, whether in print or electronic form). Before any Party requests such source code, the Party making that request shall provide notice to all other Parties. Upon receipt of such notice, the Parties agree to collectively negotiate in good faith a protective order governing the production of source code. 2. DEFINITIONS (a) “Discovery Material” means all items or information, including from any non-party, regardless of the medium or manner generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, testimony, transcripts, or tangible things) that are produced, disclosed, or

generated in connection with discovery or Rule 26(a) disclosures in this case. (b) “Outside Counsel” means (i) outside counsel who appear on the pleadings as counsel for a Party and (ii) partners, associates, and staff of such counsel to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the information for this litigation. (c) “Party” means any party to this case, including all of its officers, directors, employees, consultants, retained experts, and outside counsel and their support staffs. (d) “Producing Party” means any Party or non-party that discloses or produces any Discovery Material in this case. (e) “Protected Material” means any Discovery Material that is designated as “CONFIDENTIAL” or “CONFIDENTIAL - ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY,” as provided for in

this Order. Protected Material shall not include: (i) materials that have been actually published or publicly disseminated; (ii) materials that show on their face they have been disseminated to the public. (f) “Receiving Party” means any Party who receives Discovery Material from a Producing Party. 3. COMPUTATION OF TIME The computation of any period of time prescribed or allowed by this Order shall be governed by the provisions for computing time set forth in Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 6. 4. SCOPE (a) The protections conferred by this Order cover not only Discovery Material governed by this Order as addressed herein, but also any information copied or extracted therefrom, as well as all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations thereof, plus testimony,

conversations, or presentations by Parties or their counsel in court or in other settings that might reveal Protected Material. (b) Nothing in this Protective Order shall prevent or restrict a Producing Party’s own disclosure or use of its own Protected Material for any purpose, and nothing in this Order shall preclude any Producing Party from showing its Protected Material to an individual who prepared the Protected Material. (c) Nothing in this Order shall be construed to prejudice any Party’s right to use any Protected Material in court or in any court filing, provided it is filed under seal or marked as confidential in the transcript of any hearing or proceeding. (d) This Order is without prejudice to the right of any Party to seek further or

additional protection of any Discovery Material or to modify this Order in any way, including, without limitation, an order that certain matter not be produced at all. 5. DURATION Even after the termination of this case, the confidentiality obligations imposed by this Order shall remain in effect until a Producing Party agrees otherwise in writing or a court order otherwise directs. 6. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL (a) Patent Prosecution Bar. Absent the written consent of the Producing Party, any person on behalf of the Plaintiffs who receives one or more items designated “CONFIDENTIAL – ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY” by a Defendant shall not be involved, directly or indirectly, in any of the following activities: (i) advising on, consulting on, preparing, prosecuting, drafting, editing, and/or amending of patent applications, specifications, claims, and/or responses to office actions, or otherwise affecting the scope of claims in patents or patent

applications relating to the functionality, operation, and design of iMessage, FaceTime, and Apple ID authentication (generally or as described in any patent in suit), before any foreign or domestic agency, including the United States Patent and Trademark Office; and (ii) the acquisition of patents (including patent applications), or the rights to any such patents or patent applications with the right to sublicense, relating to the functionality, operation, and design of iMessage, FaceTime, and Apple ID authentication. These prohibitions are not intended to and shall not preclude counsel from participating in proceedings on behalf of a Party challenging the validity of any patent, but are intended, inter alia, to preclude counsel from participating directly or indirectly in reexamination, inter partes review, covered business method review, or reissue proceedings on behalf of a patentee. These prohibitions shall begin when access to

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Ohanian v. Apple Inc., (S.D.N.Y. 2021).

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