Paid Search Engine Tools, LLC v. Google Canada Corporation

Paid Search Engine Tools, LLC v. Google Canada Corporation

The Court found Defendants met the protective order test (materials treated as confidential, confidential in nature, and disclosure could cause harm) and granted a protective order tailored to those findings, upheld the counsel’s eyes only designation, rejected the proposed prosecution bar as unsupported and unreasonable, and required Defendants to file an amended proposed Protective Order within 30 days.

Citation
2019 FC 559
Parties
Plaintiff: Paid Search Engine Tools, LLC; Defendant: Google Canada Corporation; Defendant: Google LLC; Defendant: Alphabet Inc.
Court
Federal Court
Jurisdiction
Canada
Judgment Date
1 May 2019
Procedural Posture
Patent Infringement / Motion for Protective Order at Discovery/affidavits of Documents Stage
Outcome
Motion granted in part
Legal Topics
Protective Order, Confidentiality, Implied Undertaking, Prosecution Bar, Counsel's Eyes Only
Source Language
English
Intellectual Property Civil Procedure Evidence/discovery Protective Order Confidentiality Implied Undertaking Prosecution Bar Counsel's Eyes Only

Case Brief

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Parties

Paid Search Engine Tools, LLC

Plaintiff

Google Canada Corporation

Defendant

Google LLC

Defendant

Alphabet Inc.

Defendant

Procedural Posture

Patent Infringement / Motion for Protective Order at Discovery/affidavits of Documents Stage

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether the Court has jurisdiction to issue a protective order under the Federal Courts Rules
  2. 2 Appropriate test for issuing a protective order vs a Rule 151 confidentiality order
  3. 3 Whether the implied undertaking alone suffices to protect highly confidential commercial information

Ratio Decidendi

The Court found Defendants met the protective order test (materials treated as confidential, confidential in nature, and disclosure could cause harm) and granted a protective order tailored to those findings, upheld the counsel’s eyes only designation, rejected the proposed prosecution bar as unsupported and unreasonable, and required Defendants to file an amended proposed Protective Order within 30 days.

Court Disposition

Motion granted in part

Orders

  • Protective Order granted in part; Defendants to remove Prosecution Bar provisions from proposed order
  • Defendants shall serve and file an amended proposed Protective Order within 30 days as a Rule 369 motion