University of Tennessee Research Foundation v. Caelum Biosciences, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Tennessee
DecidedJanuary 16, 2024
Docket3:19-cv-00508
StatusUnknown

This text of University of Tennessee Research Foundation v. Caelum Biosciences, Inc. (University of Tennessee Research Foundation v. Caelum Biosciences, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
University of Tennessee Research Foundation v. Caelum Biosciences, Inc., (E.D. Tenn. 2024).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE AT KNOXVILLE

UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE RESEARCH ) FOUNDATION, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) No. 3:19-CV-508-CEA-DCP ) CAELUM BIOSCIENCES, INC., ) ) Defendant. )

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

This case is before the undersigned pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636, the Rules of this Court, and Standing Order 13-02. Now before the Court is the parties’ Joint Motion to Seal Confidential Information [Doc. 475]. The position of The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York (“Columbia”), a former party, is included in the parties’ joint motion. For the reasons stated below, the Court GRANTS IN PART AND DENIES IN PART the parties’ joint motion [Doc. 475].1 On December 11, 2019, the Court entered the Memorandum and Order Regarding Sealing Confidential Information (“Order”) [Doc. 7] that sets forth the standard and procedure for filing material under seal. With respect to the standard, the Order states that a party requesting leave to seal documents has a “very high barrier . . . to overcome the presumption of openness as to a court’s record” [Id. at 1 (citation omitted)]. A party requesting that documents be sealed must “analyze in detail, document by document, the propriety of secrecy, providing reasons and legal citations” [Id. at 2 (citation omitted)]. The Order explains, “It is highly unlikely that the Court will

1 As explained below, see infra p. 5, the Court has ordered additional briefing on Plaintiff’s motion to seal [Doc. 345], which seeks to seal a document also subject to the instant joint motion. place entire motions and their supporting documents under seal. To do so would eliminate from the public record all bases for any ruling upon the motion by the Court thereby eviscerating the public’s First Amendment right of access.” [Id. at 3]. The Local Rules permit the Court to seal documents upon a finding of good cause. E.D. Tenn. L.R. 26.2.

With the above guidance in mind, the Court turns to the parties’ requests. At the outset, the Court observes that the parties have generally sought to redact or seal information relating to third-parties, financial information, or alleged trade secret information. Unless otherwise noted below, the Court finds that the parties have supported their requests to redact such information or place it under seal. Shane Grp., Inc. v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, 825 F.3d 299, 308 (6th Cir. 2016) (“Finally, the point about third parties is often one to take seriously; ‘the privacy interests of innocent third parties should weigh heavily in a court’s balancing equation.’”) (quoting United States v. Amodeo, 71 F.3d 1044, 1050 (2d Cir. 1995)); Lucid Health, Inc. v. Premier Imaging Ventures, LLC, No. 2:20-CV-1055, 2021 WL 128956, at *2 (S.D. Ohio Jan. 14, 2021) (placing documents under seal that “contain revenue and sales data, financial calculations and

forecasts, and potential customers with whom [the d]efendant ha[d] executed non-disclosure agreements”); London Computer Sys., Inc. v. Zillow, Inc., No. 1:18-CV-696, 2019 WL 4110516, at *4 (S.D. Ohio Aug. 29, 2019) (allowing documents containing “highly confidential business information, such as marketing strategies, revenue/sales data, and financial calculations” to be filed under seal finding that “companies have a compelling interest in protecting such information from their competitors—especially where, as here, disclosure would cause a competitive disadvantage”); Zee Co. Inc., v. Davis, No. 1:10-cv-143-CLC-CHS [Doc. 20] (E.D. Tenn. Feb. 17, 2021) (sealing a party’s trade secrets). I. Defendant’s Memorandum in Support of its Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. 370-1 SEALED]

Defendant and Columbia seek redactions to Defendant’s Memorandum in Support of its Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. 370-1]. Defendant seeks redactions to the terms of confidential agreements involving non-parties, including Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc. (“Leidos”) and Cellca GmbH (“Cellca”), and AERES Biomedical Ltd. (“AERES”). Columbia seeks redactions relating to the language of its Exclusive License Agreement with Defendant because it is confidential. The Court has reviewed the proposed redactions [Doc. 370-1], and they are narrowly tailored. The Court finds good cause to place the documents under seal. The Court DIRECTS the Clerk’s Office to REPLACE [Doc. 370] with [Doc. 476] and then convert it into a SEALED ENTRY. The Court further DIRECTS the Clerk’s Office DELETE [Doc. 370-1] as it is a duplicative filing, and to REPLACE (placeholder) [Doc. 358] with Defendant’s redacted Memorandum of Law in Support of its Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. 475-1] II. Declaration of Anna K. Finger [Doc. 371 SEALED] and Accompanying Exhibits With respect to the Declaration of Anna K. Finger [Doc. 371], Plaintiff seeks redactions to Table 1 in Appendix A and Table 2 in Appendix B. Plaintiff states that the tables only generally describe its trade secrets such that sealing is not required but that the appendices contain its trade secrets. The Court has reviewed the redacted information, which is narrowly tailored. The Court finds good cause to place it under seal. The Court DIRECTS the Clerk’s Office to REPLACE

[Doc. 371] with an updated sealed version [Doc. 476-1], which SHALL REMAIN SEALED. The Court further DIRECTS the Clerk’s Office REPLACE the original redacted version [Doc. 360] with the updated redacted Declaration of Anna K. Finger [Doc. 475-2]. A. Exhibits 3–5, 11, 13–16; 27–29, and 42 to the Finger Declaration The parties agree that these exhibits should be filed in the public record. The Court therefore DIRECTS the Clerk’s Office as follows: • Replace Exhibit 3 (placeholder) [Doc. 360-3] with [Doc. 475-3]

• Replace Exhibit 4 (placeholder) [Doc. 360-4] with [Doc. 475-4] • Replace Exhibit 5 (placeholder) [Doc. 360-5] with [Doc. 475-5] • Replace Exhibit 11 (placeholder) [Doc. 360-11] with [Doc. 475-7] • Replace Exhibit 13 (placeholder) [Doc. 360-13] with [Doc. 475-8] • Replace Exhibit 14 Deposition Excerpts—Dr. Jonathan Wall [Doc. 360-14] with [Doc. 475-9]

• Replace Exhibit 15 (placeholder) [Doc. 360-15] with [Doc. 475-10] • Replace Exhibit 16 (placeholder) [Doc. 360-16] with [Doc. 475-11] • Replace Exhibit 27 Deposition Excerpts—Dr. Maha Kirshnamurthy [Doc. 360-27] with [Doc. 475-14]

• Replace Exhibit 28 (placeholder) [Doc. 360-28] with [Doc. 475-15] • Replace Exhibit 29 Deposition Excerpts—Dr. Stacey Patterson [Doc. 360-29] with [Doc. 475-16]

• Replace Exhibit 42 (placeholder) [Doc. 360-42] with [Doc. 475-17] Given that the exhibits no longer need to be sealed, the Court DIRECTS the Clerk’s Office to DELETE [Docs. 371-1, 371-2, 371-3, 371-6, 371-7, 371-8, 371-9, 371-14, 371-15, 371-16, and 371-28]. B. Exhibit 7 to Finger Declaration—Basic Agreement [Doc. 371-4 SEALED]

Plaintiff states that Exhibit 7 [Doc. 371-4] is a confidential agreement between Plaintiff, The University of Tennessee, and three University of Tennessee researchers. Plaintiff requests that the Court allow “the narrowly-tailored financial provisions of the agreement, which are highlighted in the version that [Plaintiff] files contemporaneously herewith” [Doc. 475 pp. 3–4]. Plaintiff states that the redactions are limited to the confidential financial terms. In light of the confidential financial information with respect to Plaintiff and the non-parties, the Court finds good cause to place Exhibit 7 under seal. The Court DIRECTS the Clerk’s Office to REPLACE

the original sealed version [Doc. 371-4] with the updated sealed version [Doc. 476-2], which SHALL REMAIN SEALED.

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Related

United States v. Amodeo
71 F.3d 1044 (Second Circuit, 1995)

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Bluebook (online)
University of Tennessee Research Foundation v. Caelum Biosciences, Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/university-of-tennessee-research-foundation-v-caelum-biosciences-inc-tned-2024.