In re Coordinated Pretrial Proceedings in Petroleum Products Antitrust Litigation

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

I. INTRODUCTION

The present controversy in these consolidated cases pits the public interest in open court proceedings against the private interest in the confidentiality of allegedly commercially sensitive information made available to opposing litigants by court process. This tension is not uncommon in complex civil litigation. At the center of the conflict are umbrella protective orders frequently entered to facilitate discovery in large cases. See, e.g., In re Agent Orange Product Liability Litigation, 98 F.R.D. 539 (E.D.N.Y.1983); Zenith Radio Corporation v. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., 529 F.Supp. 866 (E.D.Pa.1981).

The protective order in these cases was initially entered in May 1974 by Judge Clar-ie of the District of Connecticut. I adopted it as part of Pretrial Order (“P.T.O.”) No. 2 in January 1977, four months after the consolidation of the several cases by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. 1 The consolidated cases, known as MDL-150, are complex civil antitrust actions involving the oil industry. The cases fall into two distinct classes, and P.T.O. No. 2 applies to both. One group, the “State" cases, is comprised of…