JESTER et al v. INNOPOWER INC et al

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IN UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
ATHENS DIVISION
WILL JESTER and ELLIE JESTER
Plaintiff,
v.
INNOPOWER, INC., ACADEMY
SPORTS AND OUTDOORS, INC.
d/b/a GAME WINNER, JOHN DOE
CORPORATION,
Defendant.
Case No. 3:25-cv-00104-CDL
SHARING AND NON-SHARING PROTECTIVE ORDER
In order to preserve and maintain the confidentiality of certain confidential,
commercial and/or proprietary documents and information produced or to be
produced 	by 	INNOPOWER, 	INC., 	ACADEMY, 	LTD. 	D/B/A 	ACADEMY
SPORTS + OUTDOORS (incorrectly named as “Academy Sports and Outdoors,
Inc. d/b/a GAME WINNER”) (“Defendants”) in this action, it is ordered that:
1. 	Documents or information to be produced or provided by Defendants or any
party in this litigation that contain confidential, commercially sensitive, private
personal 	information 	and/or 	proprietary 	information 	may 	be 	designated 	as
confidential by marking or placing the applicable notice “Subject to Non-Sharing
Protective Order,” “Subject to Protective Order,” or “Confidential,” or substantially
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similar language on media containing the documents, on the document itself, or on
a copy of the document, in such a way that it does not obscure the text or other
content of the document.
2. 	As used in this Order, the terms “documents” or “information” mean all
written material, electronic data, videotapes and all other tangible items, produced
in whatever format (e.g., hard copy, electronic, digital, etc.) and on whatever media
(e.g., hard copy, videotape, computer diskette, CD-ROM, DVD, by secure electronic
transmission, hard drive or otherwise).
3. 	Documents or information designated as “Subject to Non-Sharing Protective
Order,” “Subject to Protective Order,” or “Confidential” or substantially similar
language in accordance with the provisions of this Order (“Protected Documents” or
“Protected Information”) shall only be used, shown or disclosed as provided in this
Order. However, nothing in this Order shall limit a party’s use or disclosure of his
or 	her 	own 	information 	designated 	as 	a 	Protected 	Document 	or 	Protected
Information.
4. 	If a receiving party disagrees with the “Protected” designation of any
document or information, the party will notify the producing party in a written letter
and identify the challenged document(s) with specificity, including Bates-number(s)
where available, and the specific grounds for the objection to the designation. If the
parties are unable to resolve the issue of confidentiality regarding the challenged
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document(s), Defendants will thereafter timely apply to the Court, within 20 days or
a time period mutually agreed to by the parties or ordered by the Court, to set a
hearing 	for 	the 	purpose 	of 	establishing 	that 	the 	challenged 	document(s) 	or
information is/are confidential. Protected Documents will continue to be treated as
such pending determination by the Court as to the confidential status. If no motion
or request to set a hearing is filed by Defendants within 20 days or a time period
mutually agreed to by the parties or ordered by the Court, the documents in dispute
will no longer be deemed “Protected.”
5. 	Protected Documents and any copies thereof shall be maintained confidential
by the persons authorized to receive the documents pursuant to paragraph 6 and shall
be used only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this litigation, subject
to the limitations set forth herein.
6. 	Protected 	Documents 	shall 	be 	disclosed 	only 	to 	“Qualified 	Persons.”
Qualified Persons are limited to:
a. 	Counsel of Record for the parties, and the parties;
b. 	Paralegals 	and 	staff 	employed 	by 	Counsel 	of 	Record 	and
involved in the preparation and trial of this action;
c. 	A vendor hired by a party to host data and maintain a database of
electronic data or perform other work related to the collection,
review or production of documents in the case;
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d. 	Experts and non-attorney consultants retained by the parties
for 	the preparation and/or trial of this case, provided that no
disclosure shall be made without first obtaining an order of the
Court to 	any 	expert 	or consultant 	who is 	employed by 	a
competitor of Defendants;
e. 	The Court, the Court’s staff, witnesses, and the jury in this case;
and
f. 	With respect to documents designated as “Sharing” or “Subject
to Protective Order,” attorneys representing Plaintiff(s), and the
experts and non-attorney consultants retained by such attorneys,
in other cases pending against Defendants involving a Game
Winner 	treestand 	or 	any 	treestand 	designed, 	distributed,
manufactured, or supplied by Innopower and/or Academy Ltd.,
provided no disclosure shall be made without first obtaining an
order of the Court to any expert or consultant who is employed
by a competitor of Defendants.
7. 	The receiving party must make reasonable efforts to ensure the individuals
described in paragraphs 6(b), 6(c), 6(d) and 6(f) above are Qualified Persons.
8. 	Before receiving access to any Protected Document or the information
contained therein, each person described in paragraphs 6(b), 6(c), 6(d) and 6(f)
above shall execute a “Written Assurance” in the form contained in Exhibit A,
attached hereto. The receiving party shall retain each such executed Written
Assurance and shall keep a list identifying (a) all persons described in paragraphs
6(b), 6(c), 6(d) and 6(f) above to whom Protected Documents have been disclosed,
and (b) all Protected Documents disclosed to such persons. 	Each such executed
Written Assurance and list shall be submitted to counsel for Defendants at the
termination of this litigation or upon Order of the Court requiring production,
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whichever comes first. However, for consulting experts who were not designated as
testifying experts, the receiving party may redact the name, address, and signature
of the consultant before disclosing the executed Exhibit A and document list for that
person. To the extent the “Qualified Persons” described in paragraph 6(d) and 6(f)
above include privileged non-testifying expert consultants, the receiving party shall
retain each such executed Exhibit A and shall keep a list identifying (a) all such non-
testifying expert consultants described in paragraphs 6(d) and 6(f) above to whom
Protected 	Documents 	have been 	disclosed, and 	(b) all 	Protected 	Documents
disclosed to such persons. 	In the event that Defendants (or the producing party)
seeks to compel the production of each unredacted and executed Exhibit A for good
cause, the receiving party shall submit each unredacted and executed Exhibit A and
list to the Court for in camera inspection. Persons described in paragraph 6(b) shall
be covered under the signature of Counsel of Record.
9. 	As 	the 	Protected 	Documents 	may 	only 	be 	distributed 	to 	Qualified
Persons, Qualified Persons may not post Protected Documents on any website or
internet accessible document repository, excepting a vendor hosted review platform
for the sole purpose of reviewing the information for the subject case and not for any
other purpose, and shall not under any circumstance sell, offer for sale, advertise, or
publicize 	either 	the 	Protected 	Documents 	and 	the 	Confidential 	information
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contained therein or the fact that such persons have obtained Defendants’ (or the
producing party’s) Protected Documents and confidential information.
10. 	To the extent that Protected Documents or information obtained therefrom are
used in the taking of depositions (including exhibits) or other pretrial testimony
and/or used as exhibits at trial, such documents or information shall remain subject
to the provisions of this Order, along with the transcript pages of the deposition
testimony and/or trial testimony dealing with, referring to or referencing the
Protected Documents or information. 	Designation of the portion of the transcript
(including 	exhibits) 	which 	contains 	references 	to 	Protected 	Documents 	or
information shall be made (i) by a statement to such effect on the record during the
proceeding in which the testimony is received, or (ii) by written notice served on
counsel of record in this Litigation within thirty (30) business days after the receipt
of the draft or final transcript (whichever is received earlier) of such proceeding (as
used herein, the term “draft transcript” does not include an ASCII or rough
transcript). 	However, before such thirty (30) day period expires, all testimony,
exhibits and transcripts of depositions or other testimony shall be treated as Protected
Documents. All portions of transcripts not designed as Confidential within the time
frame provided herein shall be deemed not confidential.
11. 	If any party disagrees with the designation of all or part of a deposition
transcript designated as “Protected” pursuant to Paragraph 10 above, such party must
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notify the designating party in a written letter and identify the testimony (by line and
page designation) and the specific grounds for the objection to the designation. 	If
the 	parties 	are 	unable 	to 	resolve 	the 	issue 	of confidentiality regarding the
challenged deposition testimony, the designating party will thereafter timely apply
to the Court, within 20 days or a time period mutually agreed to by the parties or
ordered by the Court, to set a hearing for the purpose of establishing that the
challenged 	deposition 	testimony 	is 	confidential. 	The 	designated 	deposition
testimony at issue, and any related exhibits, will continue to be treated as a Protected
Document, in accord with its respective designation, pending determination by the
Court as to the confidential status. If no motion or request to set a hearing is filed
by the designating party within 20 days or a time period mutually agreed to by the
parties or ordered by the Court, the deposition testimony in dispute will no longer
be deemed “Protected.”
12. 	All documents that are filed with the Court that contain any portion of any
Protected Document or information taken from any Protected Document shall be
filed under seal by following the protocols for sealed filings in this Court. However,
if a party believes that documents designated as Protected Documents cannot or
should not be sealed, pursuant to the protocols and rules in this Court, then the party
wishing to file the materials shall particularly identify the documents or information
that it wishes to file to the producing party, in writing. 	The parties will then meet
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and confer, in a good faith effort to resolve the dispute. 	Failing agreement, the
party wishing to file the materials must request a ruling from the Court on
whether the Protected Documents in question must be submitted under seal. The
producing party shall have the burden of justifying that the materials must be
submitted under seal. Absent written permission from the producing party or a court
Order denying a motion to seal, a receiving party may not file in the public record
any Protected Documents.
13. 	To the extent Defendants (or the producing party) is requested to produce
documents it has determined should not be subject to the sharing provision of this
protective order in paragraph 6(f), Defendants (or the producing party) will designate
such documents as “Non-Sharing.” Documents designated as “Non-Sharing” shall
not be shared under paragraph 6(f).
14. 	With respect to Protected Documents designated as “Non-Sharing,” within
one hundred and twenty (120) days after the conclusion of this case, counsel for the
parties who received Protected Documents, including any documents that any such
party disclosed to any person described in paragraph 6(b) or (c) above, shall either
(a) return to Defendants (or the producing party) the Protected Documents; or (b)
securely destroy the Protected Documents and certify such destruction to Defendants
(or the producing party) within one hundred and fifty (150) days after the conclusion
of this case.
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15. 	With 	respect 	to 	documents 	designated 	as 	“Sharing” 	or 	“Subject 	to
Protective Order,” Counsel for the parties shall not be required to return the Protected
Documents to Defendants after the conclusion of this case and may retain the
documents pursuant to the terms of this Order.
16. 	Submission to regulatory agency or governmental entity:
a) This Protective Order shall not be construed to prohibit Defendants
from disclosing or producing safety-related information to a regulatory
agency or governmental entity with an interest in such information,
including 	but 	not 	limited 	to 	the 	U.S. 	Consumer 	Product 	Safety
Commission (“CPSC”) or comparable state or international regulatory
authorities.
b) 	Any such disclosure shall be limited to the extent required by law or
regulation and shall be made pursuant to the CPSC’s applicable
procedures for handling confidential business information (CBI) or any
similar rules governing the protection of proprietary or trade secret
materials submitted to a regulatory agency.
c) In 	the 	event 	Defendants 	discloses 	material 	designated 	as
“Confidential,” “Subject to Protective Order,” or “Sharing,” to a
regulatory agency or governmental entity pursuant to this provision,
such disclosure shall not constitute a waiver of confidentiality or of any
protections afforded under this Protective Order.
17. 	Inadvertent 	or 	unintentional 	production 	of 	documents 	or 	information
containing confidential information that should have been designated as Protected
Document(s) shall not be deemed a waiver in whole or in part of the party's claims
of confidentiality.
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18. 	The parties may disclose and produce responsive documents to each other in
this litigation and seek to do so without risking waiver of any attorney-client
privilege, work product or other applicable privilege or protection. 	As such, the
parties will adhere to the following procedures with regard to the production of
privileged or protected material, should that occur:
1. 	The production of documents (including both paper documents
and electronically stored information or “ESI”) subject to protection by
the attorney-client and/or work product doctrine or by another legal
privilege protecting information from discovery, shall not constitute a
waiver of any privilege or other protection, provided that the producing
party notifies the receiving party, in writing, of the production after its
discovery of the same.
2. 	If 	the 	producing 	party 	notifies 	the 	receiving 	party 	after
discovery 	that privileged materials (hereinafter referred to as the
“Identified Materials”) have been produced, the Identified Materials
and all copies of those materials shall be returned to the producing
party or destroyed or deleted, on request of the producing party. The
producing party will provide a privilege log containing the information
upon request or if required by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure,
and applicable case law to the receiving party at the time the producing
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party provides the receiving party notice of the Identified Materials. If
the receiving party has any notes or other work product reflecting the
contents of the Identified Materials, the receiving party will not review
or use those materials unless a court later designates the Identified
Materials as not privileged or protected.
3. 	The Identified Materials shall be deleted from any systems used
to house the documents, including document review databases, e-rooms
and any other location that stores the documents. The receiving party
may make no use of the Identified Materials during any aspect of this
matter or any other matter, including in depositions or at trial, unless the
documents have been designated by a court as not privileged or
protected.
4. 	The contents of the Identified Materials shall not be disclosed to
anyone who was not already aware of the contents of them before the
notice was made. 	The receiving party must take reasonable steps to
retrieve the Identified Materials if the receiving party disclosed the
Identified Materials before being notified.
5. 	If any receiving party is in receipt of a document from a
producing party which the receiving party has reason to believe is
privileged, the receiving party shall in good faith take reasonable steps
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to promptly notify the producing party of the production of that
document so that the producing party may make a determination of
whether it wishes to have the documents returned or destroyed pursuant
to this Order.
6. 	The party returning the Identified Materials may move the Court
for an order compelling production of some or all of the Identified
Material returned or destroyed, but the basis for such motion may not
be based on the fact or circumstances of the production.
7. 	The disclosure of Identified Materials in this action is not a
waiver of the attorney-client privilege, work product doctrine or any
other asserted privilege in any other federal or state proceeding,
pursuant to Rule 502(d) of the Federal Rules of Evidence.
19. 	No provision of this order shall constitute a concession by any party that
any documents are subject to protection by the attorney-client privilege, the work
product doctrine or any other potentially applicable privilege or doctrine. 	No
provision of this order is intended to waive or limit in any way either party’s right
to contest any privilege claims that may be asserted with respect to any of the
documents produced except to the extent set forth herein.
20. 	In the event that a party produces a document without a confidentiality
designation as permitted by this Order, the following procedures shall apply:
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a) 	The producing party shall, within fourteen (14) days of the
discovery of the disclosure, notify the other party in writing. The party
receiving such notice shall promptly destroy the document, including
any copies it has, or return the document on request of the producing
party. 	Within ten (10) days after such document is returned or its
destruction certified, the producing party will produce a new version of
any such document that was returned or destroyed, which will contain
the appropriate confidentiality designation.
b) 	If the receiving party disputes the producing party’s claim of
confidentiality, that party 	may move the Court to 	challenge the
confidential designation in accordance with Paragraph 4 of this Order.
If the receiving party elects to file such a motion, the receiving party
may retain possession of the document, but shall treat it in accordance
with the terms of the Protective Order pending resolution of the motion.
If the receiving party's motion is denied, the parties shall promptly
comply with Paragraph 18(a) of this Order.
c) 	The production of such document does not constitute a waiver of
any claim of confidentiality as set forth in this order or any other matter
in any other jurisdiction, unless otherwise ordered by the Court.
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21. 	Complete copies of documents authored by an employee of Defendants in the
ordinary course of business, without handwriting or marginalia, and produced by
Defendants in accordance with this Order shall be admissible into evidence without
further authentication as true and correct copies of the originals, but objections to
admissibility on other grounds are not hereby precluded.
22. 	This Protective Order may not be waived, modified, abandoned or terminated,
in whole or part, except by an instrument in writing signed by the parties. If any
provision of this Protective Order shall be held invalid for any reason whatsoever,
the remaining provisions shall not be affected thereby.
23. 	After termination of this litigation, the provisions of this Order shall continue
to be binding. This Court retains and shall have jurisdiction over the parties and
recipients of the Protected Documents for enforcement of the provisions of this
Order following termination of this litigation.
24. 	This Protective Order shall be binding upon the parties hereto, upon their
attorneys, and upon the parties’ and their attorneys’ successors, executors, personal
representatives, administrators, heirs, legal representatives, assigns, subsidiaries,
divisions, 	employees, 	agents, 	independent 	contractors, 	or 	other 	persons 	or
organizations over which they have control.
25. 	THE COURT NOTIFIES THE PARTIES THAT IT HAS MADE CHANGES
TO THE PROPOSED LANGUAGE. The Court finds that good cause exists for the
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entry of this Protective Order with the following condition: Notwithstanding
anything to the contrary in the foregoing Order, the Court finds that the Protective
Order shall not apply to exclude evidence from public disclosure when that evidence
is relied upon in support of or opposition to any motion or during any hearing or
trial. If a party seeks to rely upon any evidence covered by this Protective Order
in support of or in opposition to any motion or during any hearing or trial, that
party shall notify the opposing party at least 14 days prior to filing the motion
or opposition and/or 14 days prior to the hearing or pretrial conference. The
opposing party shall have 7 days to respond objecting to the public disclosure
of the information, and the opposing party may also file a motion to seal stating
a compelling reason to require that the materials be filed under seal. 	Any
response to the motion to seal shall be filed within 7 days. Although any motion
to seal must be filed on the public docket, any briefs in support of or opposition
to the motion to seal, along with exhibits thereto, may be filed with restricted
access so they are accessible only by the Court and the opposing party; the
parties must contemporaneously file redacted versions of the briefs on the
public docket. The parties should not count on a same-day or next-day ruling on a
motion to seal. The Court will closely scrutinize any such requests at that time, with
the presumption that any evidence relied upon in a filed motion or in opposition to
any such motion or to be used in a hearing or trial shall be public record.
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Accordingly, when materials are to be used in the foregoing manner, a party will not
be allowed to file the materials under seal just because they are covered by this
discovery Protective Order. In the meantime, before the Court has had the
opportunity to rule upon whether a motion that contains protected material
should be permitted to be filed under seal, the party filing the document that
includes the protected material shall file its motion/filing with restricted access
so that it may be accessed only by the Court and the opposing party and shall
contemporaneously file a redacted copy of the motion/filing on the public
record that redacts the protected material. 	If a motion to seal is denied, the
Court will direct the Court to un-restrict the restricted filing.
IT IS SO ORDERED, this 17th day of November 2025.
s/Clay D. Land
U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
SUBMITTED BY:
GORDON R EES SCULLY MANSUKHANI , LLP
By:/s/ Miguel A. Lozada Jr.
Miguel A. Lozada Jr., Esq.
(Admitted Pro Hac Vice)
1 Battery Park Plaza, 28 th FL
New York, N.Y. 10004
(212) 453-0765 (Telephone)
mlozada@grsm.com
Counsel for Defendant(s) INNOPOWER, INC.,
ACADEMY SPORTS AND OUTDOORS, INC.
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CONN LAW, LLC
ANDREW J. CONN
Georgia Bar No. 732541
Post Office Box 8031
Savannah, Georgia 31412
(912) 373-8642 (tel)
(912) 210-5170 (fax)
andy@connlawfirm.com
Attorney for Plaintiffs
WADE GRUNBERG & WILSON, LLC
JONATHAN D. GRUNBERG
Georgia Bar No. 869318
729 Piedmont Avenue NE
Atlanta, GA 30308
(404) 445-8363 (tel)
(470) 970-4303 (fax)
jgrunberg@wgwlawfirm.com
Attorney for Plaintiffs
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EXHIBIT A
AFFIDAVIT 	OF 	_______________________________________, 	being 	duly
sworn and personally appearing before the undersigned attesting officer, duly
authorized by law to administer oaths, deposes and says that the within statements
are true and correct:
1.
I have read the Sharing and Non-Sharing Protective Order attached hereto,
and I understand its terms and meanings.
2.
I agree that my signature below submits me to the jurisdiction of the United
States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia in the above captioned case
and binds me to the provisions of the Sharing and Non-Sharing Protective Order,
including to all promises undertaken in the Order, as if originally agreed by me.
Further Affiant sayeth not.
This ______ day of _______________________, 202__.
___________________________________
AFFIANT
SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me
this ___ day of _________________, ____.
_____________________________________
NOTARY PUBLIC
Name:________________________________
No.:__________________________________
My Commission Expires: ________________
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