The Light That You Shine can be Seen: Federal Circuit on Seal

by Dennis Crouch

Uniloc 2017 LLC v. Apple, Inc. and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) (Fed. Cir. 2020)

This is a case about open courts and the public nature of our civil justice system. During litigation, Uniloc designated some amount of material as “highly confidential” as defined by a protective order entered by N.D. Cal. Judge Alsup.  Apple then referenced the material in a motion to dismiss as did Uniloc in its brief-in-opposition. The parties filed motions to seal the material with the district court–with Uniloc indicating that the documents “contain sensitive, confidential and proprietary information related to financial data, licensing terms and business plans with respect to various Uniloc entities … disclosure of this extremely sensitive information would create a substantial risk of serious harm to the Uniloc entities.”

EFF then intervened into the case requesting the documents be unsealed (after first asking the parties to un-seal). The sealed information related to Uniloc’s ownership of its patents.  Because Uniloc was in the process of threatening and suing a dozens of of entities, that information was especially of-interest to the public.

The district court agreed with EFF, concluding that the “generalized assertions” of secrecy and harm were insufficient to “outweigh the public’s right” to know about the patent ownership. 

Continue reading The Light That You Shine can be Seen: Federal Circuit on Seal at Patently-O.