The PTAB has taken seriously the importance of public accessibility to information underlying an Inter Partes Review proceeding. As such, motions to seal have been trickier to navigate than might have been expected. One aspect of these motions that has caused some confusion is: Who is the proper party to file a motion to seal? In Clio USA, Inc. v. The Procter and Gamble Company, IPR2013-00438, IPR2013-00448, and IPR2013-00450, the Board denied Petitioner’s Motion to Seal because, while Petitioner sought to enter certain evidence into the record, it was Patent Owner’s information and Patent Owner that wanted the information sealed. As such, it was Patent Owner who should have filed the motion to seal.

In the subject proceedings, Petitioner sought to file deposition testimony as an exhibit to the proceeding. Patent Owner asserted, however, that portions of the subject testimony contained confidential information. To protect the confidentiality of that information, Petitioner filed Motions to Seal in each proceeding.  Decision at 2.

The Board denied the motions, noting that the moving party bears the burden of showing good cause that the subject information should be sealed. To that end, because it was Patent Owner who was asserting that deposition testimony was confidential, it was Patent Owner who should have moved to seal, not Petitioner. Accordingly, Petitioner’s Motion to Seal in each proceeding was dismissed.