Smith & Nephew, Inc. v. Convatec Techs., Inc Denying in Part and Granting in Part Motion to Seal IPR2013-00097
Thursday, May 22, 2014

Takeaway: A party should tailor its motion to seal a document to only those portions that actually contain confidential information, and not the entire document.

In its Decision, the Board granted in part and denied in part Patent Owner’s Motion to Seal Portions of Certain Exhibits. The Board stated that there is a strong public policy for making all information filed in an inter partes review open to the public and the moving party must show good cause for sealing the information.  This includes showing that the information is truly confidential and that such confidentiality outweighs the public interest in having an open record.  Additionally, the moving party must include in the motion to seal a certification that it has in good faith conferred or attempted to confer with the opposing party in an effort to come to an agreement on the scope of the protection sought.

Patent Owner stated that various redacted portions of papers and exhibits should be sealed because they include confidential business information (sales and profit recitations) that would provide competitors with an unfair advantage in competing against Patent Owner for potential customers and that would provide Patent Owner’s customers with an unfair advantage in future negotiations. Petitioner did not oppose the sealing of any of the documents.  The Board then examined each document and granted the Motion as to the documents where Patent Owner narrowly tailored the request.  The Board denied the Motion as to one exhibit that did not include the information Patent Owner was attempting to seal.  Further, the Board denied the Motion to Seal Petitioner’s Motion to Exclude Evidence because this paper was not included in Patent Owner’s request, Patent Owner did not submit a redacted version thereof, and Patent Owner did not identify specific portions of the paper that contain confidential information.

Smith & Nephew, Inc. v. Convatec Techs., Inc., IPR2013-00097
Paper 89: Decision on Motion to Seal
Dated: May 19, 2014
Patent 6,669,981
Before: Lora M. Green, Rae Lynn P. Guest, and Sheridan K. Snedden
Written by: Guest

 

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