Protective Order Sought in AT&T’s False Ad Complaint vs. T-Mobile

AT&T and T-Mobile want the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas in Sherman to issue a protective order to prevent disclosure of their confidential information during discovery of AT&T’s Sept. 6 false advertising complaint over T-Mobile’s BannedSeniors.com campaign, said the carriers in a joint motion Friday (docket 4:22-cv-00760). There's good cause for a protective order, said their motion. AT&T and T-Mobile expect during discovery to exchange confidential information that, if disclosed outside the safeguards of a protective order, “would create a substantial risk of serious harm to the competitive position of the parties,” it said. Protection of confidential information is necessary “because discovery in this action will require disclosure of documents that are relevant to the claims and defenses asserted,” said the text of the proposed order. “It is likely that such documents will contain confidential personal information, financial information, and/or proprietary or trade secret information.” AT&T alleges in its complaint that each of the claims in the BannedSeniors.com campaign is "literally false" when T-Mobile asserts that 92% of U.S. seniors can't get an AT&T discount because they live outside Florida. T-Mobile moved Sept. 16 to dismiss the case for lack of personal jurisdiction on grounds that AT&T's claims do not belong in a Texas court.