That Protective Order Has Teeth

Are protective orders worth the paper they are written on? We have heard cynical attorneys pose that question, usually in a rhetorical fashion. But our view has always been that protective orders-which we define here as court orders entered to protect against the disclosure of confidential information-are important and ought to be followed. This view will come as no surprise to our loyal readers, who know us to be a defense-side blog; and defendants in drug and device litigation are usually (always?) more interested in protecting confidentiality than the other side. Even when individual plaintiffs do produce confidential information, such as medical or employment records, they often produce that information without protection or even file it openly in the public record.