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Qwest Communications International, Inc. v. FCC

229 F.3d 1172 (2000)

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Qwest Communications International, Inc. v. FCC

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
229 F.3d 1172 (2000)

  • Written by Heather Whittemore, JD

Facts

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) (defendant) required regional Bell operating companies (the companies) to maintain records of property they used in their telephone operations. Qwest Communications International, Inc. (Qwest) (plaintiff) was one of the companies. The FCC audited the companies and found that the companies may have been overstating their costs. The companies challenged the audit, and the FCC set a public-comment period on the auditing process. MCI, a competitor of Qwest, requested that the FCC publicly release the raw data used during the audit. Qwest argued against the release, explaining that the raw data contained sensitive business information MCI could use to enhance its business. The FCC released the data under a protective order according to an FCC policy allowing audit data to be released only if there is public interest in the data and the disclosure will not cause competitive injury to the company being audited or impair future audits. However, the FCC did not explain why the release of data was warranted in this case. Qwest challenged the release, alleging the release violated the Trade Secrets Act.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Rogers, J.)

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