Court Excludes Use of Confidential Infraction in Later Cases

Frerck v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., No. 11 C 2727, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Jan. 6, 2012) (Dow, J.).

Judge Dow affirmed Magistrate Judge Brown’s order entering a protective order in this copyright case involving stock photographs used in textbooks. There were three key holdings:

1. It was proper to allow defendant’s print run quantities and distribution to be treated as confidential – without ruling on the confidentiality of any particular document.
2. It was proper to allow party to initially file confidential documents under seal, along with redacted public copies, to allow the Court to probe the confidentiality.
3. Excluding the use of confidential information in future, related matters was also proper. The parties can always seek to modify the provision should circumstances warrant it.