Copy of Protective Order: http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/florida/flmdce/8:2006cv01685/186117/82/
At today's pretrial conference between Odyssey Marine and the Kingdom of Spain both parties reached an agreement for a Protective Order protecting all three arrested sites. This order is the basis of a "Confidentiality Agreement" that is being reported in the press.
Within 14 days of the issuance of the protective order, Odyssey will provide to the Kingdom of Spain "the location of the vessels, any information material to the identification of the vessels, a listing and description of the artifacts, and any photographs or videotapes of the site or vessel."
This agreement is a major step forward towards the resolution of the dispute between Spain and Odyssey. The agreement is "best for everybody," Odyssey co-founder Greg Stemm said after the hearing. "Now we can talk about the facts." He acknowledged it has been hard for Spanish officials to determine how much of an interest they have in the treasure without knowing what it is or where it came from.
James Goold, a Washington attorney who is representing Spain, acknowledged that the government may decide it has no claim to the shipwrecks after viewing the information. Mr. Goold's statement is the first hint that Spain may withdraw from some, if not all, of the cases and could dramatically speed up the resolution of the Black Swan.
The next preliminary pretrial conference will be on March 5, 2008, at 9:30 a.m. The actual trial is scheduled for Oct. 2008.