Opinion ID: 1986349
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Trade Secret Issue.

Text: The district court ruled that PCH's customer list and the other material provided to the Attorney General's Office by PCH, including, without limitation, the range information disclosed by the Attorney General's Office in its Application is a trade secret as defined in Iowa Code chapter 550. The court therefore ordered that all information sought by the subpoena should be protected as trade secrets under Iowa Code chapter 550. The attorney general contends this ruling is overbroad and made without specific fact-findings or adequate proof because it merely recited the words of the statute defining trade secrets. See Iowa Code § 550.2(4). PCH concedes the court did not make particularized fact-findings, but it argues there was adequate evidence to support the ruling. PCH contends the evidence was undisputed and was adequate for the court to have made such findings if it had done so. PCH contends the court had no obligation to repeat the undisputed facts. Moreover, PCH contends that the only materials the court was considering was the customer list and range information, so its otherwise broad ruling must be read as being limited to those items. Because of the courts' strong interest in the free flow of information on one hand and protection from commercial damage and abuse of discovery on the other, we have developed rules for resolving trade-secret cases. We have insisted on a particular and specific demonstration of fact, as distinguished from stereotyped and conclusory statements in order to establish good cause [for a protective order]. State ex rel. Miller v. Nat'l Dietary Research, Inc., 454 N.W.2d 820, 823 (Iowa 1990) (quoting Farnum v. G.D. Searle & Co., 339 N.W.2d 384, 389 (Iowa 1983)). In addition to specific demonstrations of fact, district courts are to apply three criteria for evaluating requests for a protective order under these circumstances: (1) the harm posed by dissemination must be substantial and serious, (2) the order must be narrowly drawn and precise, and (3) there must be no alternative means of protecting the public interest that intrudes less directly on expression. Farnum, 339 N.W.2d at 389-90. We agree with the attorney general that the order here, merely tracking the language of the statute without particularized findings, presented facts that were merely stereotypical and conclusive, and thus insufficient. PCH did not present particular or specific facts to support its trade-secret claim by merely stating that the trade-secret status of the information was self-evident. Moreover, the court failed to apply the three-part test for the protective order as required by Farnum. For these reasons, we hold the court abused its discretion in ordering the protective order on trade-secret grounds. We reverse and remand with instructions to the court to enforce the attorney general's subpoena. REVERSED AND REMANDED.