Pennsylvania Department of Revenue loses on its "trade secret" argument against "right to know" request

From PennLive


A Commonwealth Court panel ruled Friday that the state Department of Revenue can't claim it is protecting trade secrets in opposing a Right to Know Law request to provide information on Lottery ticket sales.

The state judges made that call in upholding an Office of Open Records ruling ordering the department to provide information Derrick Flemming sought regarding the Lottery's administration.

The Chicago, Ill., man requested data on all Lottery retail agents and purchased and winning tickets for the games from January 1, 2012 to the present.



The agency's trade secrets argument gained no traction with the judge, either. For one thing, he noted that the department didn't really identify competitors who could exploit the Lottery info. Also, Simpson observed that the data Fleming sought is provided by the department to vendors and so "is known outside of the department when it suits the Lottery's purposes."



link: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2015/08/pa_lottery_ticket_sale_info_is.html