The opinion
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8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
10 WESTERN DIVISION — LOS ANGELES
Il || JASON GOLD, Case No. 2:25-cv-05039-ODW-MBK
12 Plaintiff, (RROPOSKD) STIPULATED
13 |I vy.
14 || CERENCE INC., a Delaware Judge: Otis D. Wright, III
1 corporation, Magistrate Judge: Michael B. Kaufman
16 Petencant Complaint Scrved: lune’ 18,3025
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18 || 1. GENERAL
19 1.1 Purposes and Limitations. Discovery in this action is likely to □□□□□
20 || production of confidential, proprietary, or private information for which speci
21 || protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecutin
22 || this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to an
23 || petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parti
24 || acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures «
25 || responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and us
26 || extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidenti
27 || treatment under the applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as s:
28 || forth in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle the:
1 to file confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the
2 procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party
3 seeks permission from the court to file material under seal.
4 1.2 Good Cause Statement.
5 This action is likely to involve sensitive commercial, financial, customer,
6 technical and/or proprietary information for which special protection from public
7 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecution of this action is
8 warranted. Such confidential and sensitive materials and information consist of, among
9 other things, confidential business or financial information, information regarding
10 confidential business practices, or other confidential research, development, or
11 commercial information (including customer information, confidential contractual
12 terms, or other information impacting market share or trade competition), information
13 otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be privileged or otherwise
14 protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, or
15 common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt
16 resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect
17 information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are
18 permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation for and in the
19 conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends
20 of justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this matter. It is the
21 intent of the parties that information will not be designated as confidential for tactical
22 reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been
23 maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should
24 not be part of the public record of this case.
25 / / /
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1 2. DEFINITIONS
2 2.1 Action: Gold v. Cerence, Inc., 2:25-cv-05039-ODW (MBK) (C.D. Cal.
3 June 3, 2025).
4 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of
5 information or items under this Order.
6 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how
7 it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under
8 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good Cause
9 Statement.
10 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their
11 support staff).
12 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or
13 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as
14 “CONFIDENTIAL.”
15 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of
16 the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among
17 other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated
18 in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter.
19 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter
20 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an
21 expert witness or as a consultant in this Action.
22 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action.
23 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside
24 counsel.
25 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or
26 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action.
27 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to
28 this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and have
1 appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that has
2 appeared on behalf of that party, including support staff.
3 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors,
4 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their
5 support staffs).
6 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or
7 Discovery Material in this Action.
8 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support
9 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or
10 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and
11 their employees and subcontractors.
12 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is
13 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.”
14 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material
15 from a Producing Party.
16 3. SCOPE
17 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected
18 Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from
19 Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected
20 Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties or their
21 Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.
22 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the trial
23 judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial.
24 4. DURATION
25 Once a case proceeds to trial, all of the court-filed information to be introduced
26 that was previously designated as confidential or maintained pursuant to this protective
27 order becomes public and will be presumptively available to all members of the public,
28 including the press, unless compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings to
1 proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana v.
2 City and Cty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1180-81 (9th Cir. 2006) (distinguishing
3 “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling
4 reasons” standard when merits-related documents are part of court record).
5 Accordingly, the terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the
6 commencement of the trial.
7 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL
8 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection.
9 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this
10 Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies
11 under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for protection
12 only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written communications that
13 qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items, or communications for
14 which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this
15 Order.
16 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations
17 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose
18 (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose
19 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party
20 to sanctions.
21 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it
22 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must
23 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation.
24 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this
25 Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated
26 or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this
27 Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or produced.
28 Designation in conformity with this Order requires:
1 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic
2 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial
3 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix, at a minimum, the legend
4 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that
5 contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page
6 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected
7 portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins).
8 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection
9 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated
10 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and before
11 the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be deemed
12 “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the documents it wants
13 copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, or
14 portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the
15 specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to
16 each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion or portions of the material
17 on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the
18 protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins).
19 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identify
20 the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition.
21 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and
22 for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the
23 exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend
24 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants
25 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected
26 portion(s).
27 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent
28 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the
1 Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon
2 timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to
3 assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order.
4 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS
5 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a
6 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s Scheduling
7 Order.
8 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute
9 resolution process under Local Rule 37-1, et seq, as modified by Judge Kaufman’s
10 Procedures. See https://www.cacd.uscourts.gov/honorable-michael-b-kaufman. Any
11 discovery motion must strictly comply with these procedures.
12 6.3 Burden. The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall
13 be on the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper
14 purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties)
15 may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has
16 waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall continue to afford
17 the material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing
18 Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge.
19 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
20 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is
21 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this Action
22 only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such Protected
23 Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the conditions
24 described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a Receiving Party must
25 comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL DISPOSITION).
26 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a
27 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons
28 authorized under this Order.
1 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise
2 ordered by the Court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving Party
3 may disclose any information or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to:
4 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well
5 as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to
6 disclose the information for this Action;
7 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of
8 the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action;
9 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom
10 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the
11 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
12 (d) the Court and its personnel;
13 (e) court reporters and their staff;
14 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional
15 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have
16 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
17 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a
18 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information;
19 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the
20 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party
21 requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will
22 not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the
23 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed
24 by the Designating Party or ordered by the Court. Pages of transcribed deposition
25 testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be separately
26 bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted
27 under this Stipulated Protective Order; and
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1 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel,
2 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions.
3 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED
4 IN OTHER LITIGATION
5 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that
6 compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as
7 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must:
8 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall
9 include a copy of the subpoena or court order;
10 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to
11 issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or
12 order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this
13 Stipulated Protective Order; and
14 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by
15 the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected.
16 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with
17 the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this action
18 as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the subpoena
19 or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The
20 Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court
21 of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions should be construed as
22 authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful
23 directive from another court.
24 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE
25 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION
26 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non-
27 Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced
28 by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief
1 provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting
2 a Non-Party from seeking additional protections.
3 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce
4 a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an
5 agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information,
6 then the Party shall:
7 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that
8 some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with
9 a Non-Party;
10 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated
11 Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably
12 specific description of the information requested; and
13 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-
14 Party, if requested.
15 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this Court within 14
16 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may
17 produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request.
18 If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce
19 any information in its possession or control that is subject to the confidentiality
20 agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the Court. Absent a court order
21 to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection
22 in this Court of its Protected Material.
23 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
24 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed
25 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this
26 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing
27 the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve
28 all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or persons to
1 whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, and (d) request
2 such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound”
3 that is attached hereto as Exhibit A.
4 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE
5 PROTECTED MATERIAL
6 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain
7 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection,
8 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil
9 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure
10 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without prior
11 privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the
12 parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or
13 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the
14 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted to
15 the Court.
16 12. MISCELLANEOUS
17 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any
18 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future.
19 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this
20 Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to
21 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this
22 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any
23 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order.
24 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any
25 Protected Material must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material may
26 only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific
27 Protected Material at issue; good cause must be shown in the request to file under seal.
28 If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the Court, then the
1 Receiving Party may file the information in the public record unless otherwise
2 instructed by the Court.
3 13. FINAL DISPOSITION
4 After the final disposition of this Action, within 60 days of a written request by
5 the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to the
6 Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, “all Protected
7 Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any other format
8 reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material
9 is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the
10 Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the
11 60 day deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected
12 Material that was returned or destroyed, (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not
13 retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format
14 reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material, and (3) affirms that individual
15 or non-party to whom Receiving Party disclosed Protected Material pursuant to Section
16 7.2 or otherwise has returned or destroyed any such Protected Material.
17 Notwithstanding this provision, counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all
18 pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda,
19 correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product,
20 and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected
21 Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain
22 subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION).
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1 || 14. VIOLATION OF ORDER
2 Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate measure
3 || including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions.
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5 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.
6
7 Dated: December 10, 2025 ROME LLP
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9 By: /s/ Eugene Rome
Eugene Rome
10 Attorneys for Plaintiff JASON GOLD
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12 |/Dated: December 10, 2025 DINSMORE & SHOHL LLP
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14 By: /s/ Arielle I. Goren
15 Javier F. Flores (pro hac vice)
Jeffrey B. Witham
16 Arielle I. Goren
17 Attorneys for Defendant CERENCE, INC.,
ig a Delaware corporation
19 IT ISSO ORDERED.
20 ;
51 |) DATED: _ 12/12/2025 LA □□□
MICHAEL B. KAUFMAN
22 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
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1 ECF SIGNATURE CERTIFICATION
2 Pursuant to Local Rule 5-4.3.4(a)(2)(i), I hereby certify that Eugene Rome, Esq.,
3 counsel for Plaintiff Jason Gold, concurs in the content of this document and has
4 authorized the filing of this document.
Dated: December 10, 2025 DINSMORE & SHOHL LLP
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By: /s/ Arielle I. Goren
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Arielle I. Goren
8 Attorneys for Defendant CERENCE, INC.,
a Delaware corporation
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