In contrast with Judge Chhabria’s public rebuke of Meta’s sealing request as “preposterous” in Kadrey v. Meta, Magistrate Judge Wang granted all 25 motions to seal various exhibits and references to content in the exhibits made in the parties’ briefing and declarations.
Some of the motions were jointly filed, while none were opposed by opposing counsel.
Judge Wang noted the high-stakes nature of the lawsuits (Authors Guild v. OpenAI and consolidated book author cases, and New York Times v. Microsoft and consolidated newspaper cases):
“To date, both parties have engaged in a battle of discovery disputes, filing motions to compel on a regular basis. Due to the high-stakes nature and publicity of these cases and the sensitive information involved, many of the parties’ motions are accompanied by motions to seal. The Court notes that there are currently nine outstanding motions to seal under Index No. 23-cv-8292 (the “Authors Action”), and 14 motions to seal under Index No. 23-cv-11195 (the “Newspapers Action”).”
