It's Official: Federal Court Protective Orders Were Never Dead

In Federal Court Protective Orders – Back from the Dead?, three Federal Court decisions on protective orders were discussed – in two decisions, protective orders were granted, and in the other decision – Canadian National Railway Company v BNSF Railway Company – Justice Locke denied the parties a consent protective order.

In Canadian National Railway Company v BNSF Railway Company, the parties had prepared a joint draft protective order based on a Federal Court template developed over the years by the Federal Court IP Users' Committee. Justice Locke (as he then was) reviewed the consent protective order against the Supreme Court of Canada's Sierra Club of Canada v Canada confidentiality orders factors, and held a protective order was unnecessary because "reasonably alternative measures" (e.g., protective agreements, the implied undertaking rule) were available to the parties. As was noted in the above-mentioned article, that decision was appealed by Canadian