Entropic Communications v. Charter v. Electronic Freedom Foundation

After Entropic Communications, LLC sued Charter Communications, Inc. alleging patent infringement, the parties stipulated to, and the district court ordered, a blanket protective order that allowed either party to designate discovery materials as confidential. The order required each party, when filing in court any document designated confidential, to file it under seal, as well as to file under seal any papers that mentioned confidential material. The protective order did not require the parties to make any showing of a need for confidentiality of materials filed under seal. Entropic later moved for summary judgment, filing some of the papers under seal. The court’s decision is also redacted. Interested in seeing the sealed materials, the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) moved to intervene for the limited purpose of moving to unseal. The district court denied the motions to intervene and to unseal. EFF then appealed.

Together with Public Justice, Public Citizen filed an amicus brief in support of EFF. The brief explains that the public’s right of access to court records is well-established and protected by common law and the First Amendment. The brief also explains that a motion to intervene is an appropriate method to seek to unseal court records, and that motions filed after the conclusion of the underlying litigation are nonetheless timely.