‘I Apologize,’ Says Top IP Lawyer Taking Heat for Sealed Filing

The litigation department head at Delaware’s largest law firm apologized for what a federal judge called “about as frivolous a motion to seal as I have seen,” but said he had asked to file testimony from a YouTube employee under seal because he “believed it was justified.”

Frederick L. Cottrell III is a director at Richards, Layton & Finger PA, which represents Alphabet Inc.’s Google LLC and YouTube LLC in a patent-infringement lawsuit launched by Robocast Inc. in early March.

The declaration Cottrell sought to keep sealed was filed in support of a Google motion to move the case from ...