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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.