U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman issued the order on May 11, 2026, in Gome et al. v. Petpivot, Inc. et al. The order mandates that any party using closed, non-public AI programs—such as Microsoft Azure-hosted OpenAI models—must configure the platform to not retain or learn from user inputs.
The court also required that such platforms be isolated from public access and used solely for the purposes of the litigation. Parties using these tools must conduct reasonable due diligence to ensure compliance with the order’s confidentiality requirements, including confirming that information uploaded to the program can be deleted upon the termination of the litigation.
Within 90 days after the termination of the litigation, including all appeals, each receiving party must certify in writing that all confidential information has been deleted from any AI programs or platforms used during the case.
The protective order applies to all discovery material designated as confidential, which includes financial information, trade secrets, business plans, and proprietary information about affiliates.
The order was stipulated to by counsel for the parties, including plaintiffs Stephanie Gomez and Frank Gueits, and defendants Petpivot, Inc., Amazon.com, Inc., Xianxue Zhou, and Poppy Xie.
Liman, a George W. Bush appointee, signed the order on May 11, 2026.