There is a Presumption Of Public Access To Judicial Records

Baystate Technologies, Inc. v. Bowers [2008-1204] (July 10, 2008) [LOURIE, BRYSON, and PROST] The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded the district court’s order denying Professor Kuney leave to intervene and modify the protective order so that he could research the case.
BRIEF: Professor Kuney sought to intervene to modify the protective order in a case to access documents for his research. The Federal Circuit began by noting that intervention is the proper means for a non-party to challenge a protective order. The Federal Circuit also noted the presumption of public access to judicial records. The Federal Circuit concluded that in determining whether a protective order should be modified, the court must balance the privacy interests of the parties against the public interest in access to the discovery information, but that here it was not apparent whether the court engaged in a balancing and thus it is unclear if the court abused its discretion in denying Professor Kuney’s motion to intervene and modify Protective Order. The Federal therefore returned the case to the district court for a balancing of the public and private interests in determining whether to grant or deny Professor Kuney’s motions.