Summary
The United States District Court for the Northern District of California granted ChromaCode’s motions to seal materials submitted in connection with its motion to amend infringement contentions, applying the good-cause standard for discovery matters. The Court required public versions of specified exhibits with redactions and set October 23, 2025, as the filing deadline.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether good cause supported sealing the identified materials submitted in connection with a discovery-related motion.
- Which exhibits or portions of exhibits should remain sealed and which should be filed publicly with redactions.
Holdings
- Good cause supported sealing the requested materials, except Exhibits 1 and 6, which did not require sealing. ChromaCode was required to file public versions of Exhibits 1 and 6.
- Good cause supported sealing the portions of Exhibit 3 containing confidential business information concerning custom assays. ChromaCode was required to file a revised public version with the redactions identified by Bio-Rad.
Factual background
Plaintiffs California Institute of Technology and ChromaCode, Inc. sought leave to amend infringement contentions and filed two administrative motions concerning the sealing of materials belonging to defendant Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. and non-party Verily Life Sciences, LLC. Bio-Rad and Verily identified certain exhibits or portions of exhibits that did not require sealing, while requesting protection for confidential business information, including information concerning custom assays not disclosed publicly or to competitors. The court found good cause to seal the specified material while requiring public versions of other exhibits.
Procedural history
ChromaCode filed two motions to seal material belonging to Bio-Rad and non-party Verily. Bio-Rad and Verily submitted statements identifying the materials they sought to keep sealed or indicating that certain exhibits did not require sealing. The court granted both motions in part and directed ChromaCode to file public versions with specified redactions.