Stone Brewing Co., LLC v. Molson Coors Brewing Company

Opinion

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8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 || STONE BREWING CO., LLC, | Case No.: 3:18-cv-00331-BEN-JMA Platt) ORDER GRANTING MOTIONS 13 Vv. . | FOR LEAVE TO FILE CERTAIN | 14 || MOLSON COORS BREWING CO., READ ND ABIBIES 15 MILLERCOORS LLC, and DOES 1 through 25, inclusive, [ECF Nos. 366, 370, 373] _ Defendants. 17 18 _ Concurrent with the Parties’ briefing on Plaintiff Stone Brewing Company, LLC’s 19. Objection to the Order Denying Plaintiff's Motion re Discovery Dispute, the Parties 20 || moved to file under seal certain portions of their briefs, declarations, and supporting 21 |} exhibits, 22 The portions of the briefs, declarations, and exhibits sought to be sealed contain, 23 reference, or discuss commercially sensitive and proprietary business data. These 24 || documents have been previously designated “Confidential” or “Confidential — Attorneys’ 25 Eyes Only” pursuant to the Protective Order issued in this case.. See ECF No. 54. 26 || Specifically, these exhibits contain business information including detailed business 27 || strategy and detailed agreements with third parties. 28 .

1 “[C]ompelling reasons sufficient to outweigh the public’s interest in disclosure and 2 ||justify sealing court records exist when such court files might . . . become a vehicle for 3 |}improper purposes, such as the use of records to . . . release trade secrets.” Kamakana v. 4 || City & Cnty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, .1179 (9th Cir. 2006). A “trade secret may 5 ||consist of any formula, pattern, device or compilation of information which is used in 6 || one’s business, and which gives him an opportunity to obtain an advantage over 7 ||competitors who do not know or use it.” The Court can seal proprietary information to 8 protect a business from potential harm. See Obesity Research Institute, LLC v. Fiber □ 9 || Research International, LLC, No. 15-CV-00595-BAS-MDD, 2017 WL 6270268, at *2 10 ||(S.D. Cal. Dec. 8, 2017) (granting motion to file documents containing proprietary 11 || business information under seal). 12 Accordingly, the motions to seal is GRANTED. Redacted versions of the 13 ||aforementioned documents have been filed on the public docket. The Clerk is directed to 14 || file unredacted versions of the documents and exhibits lodged at Docket Numbers 368, 15 and 374 under seal. 16 ITISSOORDERED. = 17 1g || DATED: Octobe? £2020 . Ho er T. Beni 19 Umited States DistrictCourt 20 21 22 ||

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