Lexos Media IP, LLC v. Overstock.com, Inc.

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Kansas addresses the parties’ joint motions to seal documents associated with summary-judgment and Daubert filings in an intellectual-property dispute. The court grants the motion in part, denies it in part as to several documents, finds it moot as to others, and directs the Clerk to remove provisional seal designations from specified filings.

Holdings

1. A later motion to seal cannot retroactively amend or supersede prior notices of proposed sealed record, and parties must challenge prior rulings through the applicable reconsideration or objection procedures.
2. A motion to seal or redact must be filed within seven days after the document is filed provisionally under seal; requests filed later are untimely absent an adequate justification for considering them.
3. Documents may be sealed when the party seeking sealing demonstrates a significant interest that outweighs the public's common-law right of access, with heightened scrutiny when the documents are used to determine substantive legal rights.
4. The updated joint motion to seal was granted in part, denied in part, and moot in part; the earlier joint motion was moot.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the parties could use the updated joint motion to supersede or retroactively amend prior notices of proposed sealed record.
2. Whether the requests to seal or redact were timely under District of Kansas Local Rule 5.4.2.
3. Whether the requested documents should remain sealed or provisionally sealed under the common-law right of access to judicial records.
4. Whether portions of the motion were moot because the court had already sealed certain documents or because the related Daubert motion was moot.

Disposition

other