Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-4_06-cv-00426/USCOURTS-cand-4_06-cv-00426-1/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 190
Nature of Suit: Other Contract Actions
Cause of Action: 28:1441 Petition For Removal--Other Contract

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 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER C 06 00426 CW 

-1- 

DIRK M. SCHENKKAN (No. 72533) 

Email: dschenkkan@howardrice.com 

ERIC S. PETTIT (No. 234657) 

Email: epettit@howardrice.com 

HOWARD RICE NEMEROVSKI CANADY 

FALK & RABKIN 

A Professional Corporation 

Three Embarcadero Center, 7th Floor 

San Francisco, California 94111-4024 

Telephone: 415/434-1600 

Facsimile: 415/217-5910 

Attorneys for Plaintiff 

HOWARD RICE NEMEROVSKI CANADY FALK & RABKIN, A 

Professional Corporation 

THOMAS W. HUMPHREY (Ohio Bar No. 0062336) (Pro Hac Vice) 

Email: thumphrey@whepatent.com 

WOOD, HERRON & EVANS, L.L.P. 

2700 Carew Tower 

Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 

Telephone: (513) 241-2324 

Facsimile: (513) 421-7269 

Attorneys for Defendant TOTAL TECHNOLOGY, INC. 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 

SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION 

HOWARD RICE NEMEROVSKI CANADY 

FALK & RABKIN, a California professional 

corporation, 

Plaintiff, 

v. 

TOTAL TECHNOLOGY, INC., an Ohio 

corporation; and DOES 1 through 40, 

inclusive, 

Defendants. 

AND RELATED COUNTERCLAIMS. 

No. C 06 00426 CW 

Action Filed: December 22, 2005 

Action Removed: January 23, 2006 

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER

Case 4:06-cv-00426-CW Document 34 Filed 06/12/06 Page 1 of 13
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 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER C 06 00426 CW 

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1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 

Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are likely to involve production of 

confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public 

disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation would be 

warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the court to enter the 

following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does not 

confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection 

it affords extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled under the 

applicable legal principles to treatment as confidential. The parties further acknowledge, as 

set forth in Section 10, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order creates no entitlement to 

file confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that 

must be followed and reflects the standards that will be applied when a party seeks 

permission from the court to file material under seal. 

2. DEFINITIONS 

2.1 Party: any party to this action, including all of its officers, directors, 

employees, consultants, retained experts, and outside counsel (and their support staff). 

2.2 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of 

the medium or manner generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, 

testimony, transcripts, or tangible things) that are produced or generated in disclosures or 

responses to discovery in this matter. 

2.3 “Confidential” Information or Items: information (regardless of how 

generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under 

standards developed under F.R.Civ.P. 26(c). 

2.4 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material 

from a Producing Party. 

2.5 Producing Party: a Party or non-party that produces Disclosure or 

Discovery Material in this action. 

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2.6 Designating Party: a Party or non-party that designates information or 

items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “Confidential”. 

2.7 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 

designated as “Confidential”. 

2.8 Counsel: Outside counsel and counsel who are employees of a Party, as 

well as their support staffs. 

2.9 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support 

services (e.g., photocopying; videotaping; translating; preparing exhibits or demonstrations; 

organizing, storing, retrieving data in any form or medium; etc.) and their employees and 

subcontractors. 

3. SCOPE 

The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected 

Material (as defined above), 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 counsel to or in court or in other settings that might reveal 

Protected Material. 

4. DURATION 

Even after the termination of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations imposed by 

this Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees otherwise in writing or a 

court order otherwise directs. 

5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 

5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 

Each Party or non-party that designates information or items for protection under this Order 

must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the 

appropriate standards. A Designating Party must take care to designate for protection only 

those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written communications that qualify—

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so that other portions of the material, documents, items, or communications for which 

protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 

Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are 

shown to be clearly unjustified, or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to 

unnecessarily encumber or retard the case development process, or to impose unnecessary 

expenses and burdens on other parties), expose the Designating Party to sanctions. 

If it comes to a Party’s or a non-party’s attention that information or items that it 

designated for protection do not qualify for protection at all, or do not qualify for the level of 

protection initially asserted, that Party or non-party must promptly notify all other parties 

that it is withdrawing the mistaken designation. 

5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 

this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a), below), or as otherwise stipulated or 

ordered, material that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated 

before the material is disclosed or produced. 

Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 

(a) For information in documentary form (apart from transcripts of 

depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the Producing Party affix the legend 

“CONFIDENTIAL” at the top of each page that contains protected material. If only a 

portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party 

also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in 

the margins). 

A Party or non-party that makes original documents or materials available for 

inspection need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has 

indicated which material it would like copied and produced. After the inspecting Party has 

identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine 

which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order, then, before 

producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the legend 

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“CONFIDENTIAL” at the top of each page that contains Protected Material. If only a 

portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party 

also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in 

the margins). 

(b) for testimony given in deposition or in other pretrial or trial 

proceedings, that the Party or non-party offering or sponsoring the testimony identify on the 

record, before the close of the deposition, hearing, or other proceeding, all protected 

testimony. When it is impractical to identify separately each portion of testimony that is 

entitled to protection, and when it appears that substantial portions of the testimony may 

qualify for protection, the Party or non-party that sponsors, offers, or gives the testimony 

may invoke on the record (before the deposition or proceeding is concluded) a right to have 

up to 20 days following receipt of the transcript to identify the specific portions of the 

testimony as to which protection is sought. 

During deposition or other testimony regarding Protected Material, the Designating 

Party may exclude any persons not entitled to disclosure of such material. Transcript pages 

containing Protected Material must be separately bound by the court reporter, who must 

affix to the top of each such page the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” as instructed by the Party 

or nonparty offering or sponsoring the witness or presenting the testimony. 

(c) for information produced in some form other than documentary, 

and for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the 

exterior of the container or containers in which the information or item is stored the legend 

“CONFIDENTIAL”. If only portions of the information or item warrant protection, the 

Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected portions. 

5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 

failure to designate qualified information or items as “Confidential” does not, standing 

alone, waive the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such 

material. If material is appropriately designated as “Confidential” after the material was 

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initially produced, the Receiving Party, on timely notification of the designation, must make 

reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of 

this Order. A Receiving Party shall not be held in breach of this Stipulation and Order with 

respect to specific disclosures of Protected Material made prior to a belated designation of 

such material by the Producing Party. Once such belated designation has been made, 

however, that material shall be treated by the Receiving Party appropriately for the 

designation in accordance with this Stipulation and Order. 

6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 

6.1 Timing of Challenges. Unless a prompt challenge to a Designating 

Party’s confidentiality designation is necessary to avoid foreseeable substantial unfairness, 

unnecessary economic burdens, or a later significant disruption or delay of the litigation, a 

Party does not waive its right to challenge a confidentiality designation by electing not to 

mount a challenge promptly after the original designation is disclosed. No Receiving Party 

shall be deemed by treating information as Protected Material to have conceded that the 

information actually is confidential. 

6.2 Meet and Confer. A Party that elects to initiate a challenge to a 

Designating Party’s confidentiality designation must do so in good faith and must begin the 

process by conferring directly with Counsel for the Designating Party. Counsel for the 

Designating Party shall respond promptly and cooperate fully in the conferral process. In 

conferring, the challenging Party must explain the basis for its belief that the confidentiality 

designation was not proper and must give the Designating Party an opportunity to review the 

designated material, to reconsider the circumstances, and, if no change in designation is 

offered, to explain the basis for the chosen designation. A challenging Party may proceed to 

the next stage of the challenge process only if it has engaged in this meet and confer process 

first. 

6.3 Judicial Intervention. A Party that elects to press a challenge to a 

confidentiality designation after considering the justification offered by the Designating 

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Party may file and serve a motion under Civil Local Rule 7 (and in compliance with Civil 

Local Rule 79-5, if applicable) that identifies the challenged material and sets forth in detail 

the basis for the challenge. Each such motion must be accompanied by a competent 

declaration that affirms that the movant has complied with the meet and confer requirements 

imposed in the preceding paragraph and that sets forth with specificity the justification for 

the confidentiality designation that was given by the Designating Party in the meet and 

confer dialogue. 

The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the Designating 

Party. Until the court rules on the challenge, all parties shall continue to afford the material 

in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s 

designation. 

7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 

7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 

disclosed or produced by another Party or by a non-party in connection with this case only 

for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this litigation. Such Protected Material 

may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the conditions described in this 

Order. When the litigation has been terminated, a Receiving Party must comply with the 

provisions of section 11, below (FINAL DISPOSITION). 

Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a location 

and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized under this 

Order. 

7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 

otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving 

Party may disclose any information or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 

(a) the Receiving Party’s counsel of record in this action, as well as 

employees of said counsel to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the information for 

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this litigation and who have signed the “Agreement to Be Bound by Protective Order” that is 

attached hereto as Exhibit A; 

(b) the current and former officers, directors, and employees of the 

Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have 

signed the “Agreement to Be Bound by Protective Order” (Exhibit A); 

(c) experts of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably 

necessary for this litigation and who have signed the “Agreement to Be Bound by Protective 

Order” (Exhibit A); 

(d) the Court and its personnel; 

(e) court reporters, their staffs, and professional vendors to whom 

disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the “Agreement to 

Be Bound by Protective Order” (Exhibit A); 

(f) during their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom disclosure 

is reasonably necessary and who have signed the “Agreement to Be Bound by Protective 

Order” (Exhibit A). Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that 

reveal Protected Material must be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be 

disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order. 

(g) the author of the document or the original source of the information, 

(h) any prior recipient of the document or Protected Material. 

8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED 

IN OTHER LITIGATION. 

If a Receiving Party is served with a subpoena or an order issued in other litigation that 

would compel disclosure of any information or items designated in this action as 

“CONFIDENTIAL” the Receiving Party must so notify the Designating Party, in writing (by 

fax, if possible) promptly and in no event more than three court days after receiving the 

subpoena or order. Such notification must include a copy of the subpoena or court order. 

The Receiving Party also must promptly inform in writing the Party who caused the 

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subpoena or order to issue in the other litigation that some or all the material covered by the 

subpoena or order is the subject of this Protective Order. In addition, the Receiving Party 

must deliver a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order promptly to the Party in the other 

action that caused the subpoena or order to issue. 

The purpose of imposing these duties is to alert the interested parties to the existence of 

this Protective Order and to afford the Designating Party in this case an opportunity to try to 

protect its confidentiality interests in the court from which the subpoena or order issued. 

The Designating Party shall bear the burdens and the expenses of seeking protection in that 

court of its confidential material—and nothing in these provisions should be construed as 

authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this action to disobey a lawful directive 

from another court. 

9. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 

If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 

Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Stipulated 

Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing the Designating 

Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all copies of the 

Protected Material, (c) inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were 

made of all the terms of this Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the 

“Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 

10. FILING PROTECTED MATERIAL. Without written permission from the 

Designating Party or a court order secured after appropriate notice to all interested persons, a 

Party may not file in the public record in this action any Protected Material. A Party that 

seeks to file under seal any Protected Material must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. To 

the extent that Protected Material is admitted at trial without the benefit of sealing, the 

parties shall not gratuitously advise any third person that the material is available in the 

public record.

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11. FINAL DISPOSITION. Unless otherwise ordered or agreed in writing by the 

Producing Party, within sixty days after the final termination of this action, each Receiving 

Party must return all Protected Material to the Producing Party. As used in this subdivision, 

“all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other 

form of reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. With permission in writing 

from the Designating Party, the Receiving Party may destroy some or all of the Protected 

Material instead of returning it. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the 

Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the 

same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the sixty day deadline that identifies (by 

category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed and 

that affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, 

summaries or other forms of reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. 

Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all 

pleadings, motion papers, transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence or attorney work 

product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that 

contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in 

Section 4 (DURATION), above. 

12. MISCELLANEOUS 

12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 

person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 

12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 

Protective Order no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or 

producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective 

Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any ground to use in evidence of 

any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 

12.3 Right to Use Own Protected Material. This Order shall not operate in 

any way to limit a party’s use of its own Protected Material for any purpose outside this 

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litigation (although of course disclosure of such material outside this litigation in a manner 

inconsistent with the protections afforded the material hereunder may be grounds for 

challenging its protected status). 

12.4 Right to Use Independently Obtained Material. Nothing in this Order 

shall restrict the use of documents or information that is either already in the possession of 

the Receiving Party, lawfully obtained from another source, or independently developed by 

the undersigned counsel or experts retained or consulted by the parties hereto without the use 

of Protected Material.

12.5 Right to Execute in Counterparts. This Stipulation may be executed in 

two or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original, but all of which shall 

constitute one and the same instrument.

12.6 No Contractual Liability. To the extent that the parties have agreed on 

the terms of this Order, such Stipulation is for the Court’s consideration and approval as an 

Order. The parties’ Stipulation shall not be construed to create a contract between the 

parties, counsel, or between the parties and their respective counsel.

IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 

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June 2, 2006. HOWARD RICE NEMEROVSKI CANADY 

FALK & RABKIN 

A Professional Corporation 

By: /s/ 

DIRK M. SCHENKKAN 

Attorneys for Plaintiff HOWARD RICE 

NEMEROVSKI CANADY FALK & RABKIN, A 

Professional Corporation 

June ___, 2006. WOOD, HERRON & EVANS LLP 

By: 

THOMAS HUMPHREY 

Attorneys for Defendant TOTAL TECHNOLOGY, 

INC. 

PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED. BUT SEE L.R. 79-5. 

June 12, 2006. /S/ CLAUDIA WILKEN 

 CLAUDIA WILKEN 

United States District Judge 

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EXHIBIT A 

ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 

The undersigned acknowledges having received and read the attached Stipulated 

Protective Order and agrees to be bound by it. 

Date: ________________________________ 

City and State where signed: ________________________________ 

Printed name: _____________________________ [printed name] 

Signature: __________________________________ [signature] 

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