Lead Opinion
EN BANC OPINION
Unquestionably, tobacco is subject to heavy regulation by federal and state governments. This case concerns one attempt, by Massachusetts, to further regulate tobacco products by requiring tobacco companies to submit to Massachusetts the ingredient lists for all cigarettes, snuffs, and chewing tobaccos sold in the state. For each brand, the manufacturer must list, by relative amount, all ingredients besides tobacco, water, or reconstituted tobacco sheet. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 94, § 307B (2002). Currently, the appellees, a group of tobacco companies, treat these ingredient lists as trade secrets and either do not disclose brand-specific information at all or do not disclose it without some guarantee of confidentiality.
The tobacco companies brought suit claiming that the Massachusetts statute, which allows the public disclosure of these ingredient lists whenever such disclosure “could reduce risks to public health,” Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 94, § 307B, creates an unconstitutional taking. Appellees also argued that the Massachusetts statute violates their Due Process rights by effecting a taking of their property without first providing a meaningful opportunity to be heard. The district court concurred and granted summary judgment in favor of the tobacco companies. A divided panel of this Court rejected appellees’ arguments and reversed the district court’s judgment. After en banc review, however, Judge Sel-ya and I agree with the district court and, therefore, affirm its grant of summary judgment and award of injunctive and declaratory relief in favor of plaintiffs-appel-lees.
I.
Factual Background
Appellees are various manufacturers of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco prod
Defendants-appellants are the Attorney General of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Commissioner of Public Health.
A. The Ingredient Lists
All of the tobacco products manufactured by appellees include a variety of additives (in addition to tobacco, water, and reconstituted tobacco sheet). For example, common ingredients include sugars, glycerin, propylene glycol, cocoa, and licorice. These various additives are used as solvents, processing aids, pH modifiers, formulation aids for reconstituted tobacco, preservatives, humectants, tobacco protection aids, “plasticizing” agents, and, perhaps most importantly, flavorings. It is undisputed that appellees have spent millions of dollars developing formulas for their different brands, and when successful, those brands are worth billions of dollars. A major factor of each brand’s success is its distinctive flavor, taste, and aroma.
While appellants argue that the added ingredients are neither pre-approved by regulators nor tested for safety, it is undisputed that most of the added ingredients are approved for consumption in food or “Generally Recognized As Safe” by the Food and Drug Administration. The one additive not found on either list is denatured alcohol, and this has been approved by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms for use in the manufacture of tobacco products.
Each of the appellees closely guards its valuable ingredient lists. For example, within each company, only a few individuals are privy to the entire formula for any one brand. Suppliers are subject to confidentiality agreements and ship their products in packages which disguise their contents.
It is true that some ingredients of particular brands are known, and all ingredients used in any tobacco product are publicly available. However, this does not mean that complete brand-specific ingredient information can be obtained. In fact, various appellees have tried to “reverse engineer” the formulas of their competitors, but these attempts have been unsuccessful. Apparently, they have been able to determine the chemical composition of the various brands, but this information does not translate into a formula to recreate the product. Appellees assert, however, that if they were able to combine the chemical composition derived from this “reverse engineering” with a list of specific ingredients, arranged by relative amount, it would be much easier to discover a competitor’s formula. Therefore, the tobacco companies argue that publication of their ingredient lists, organized by relative amount, on a brand-by-brand basis would likely destroy the secrecy of their formulas. This contention is not disputed by appellants.
B. Current Federal and State Disclosure Requirements
Tobacco companies currently have to disclose their ingredient lists to both the federal government and at least two state governments.
The federal government requires only that an aggregate list of all ingredients
Two states, besides Massachusetts, require some disclosure of additives to tobacco products. Minnesota mandates that tobacco companies report only the use of several targeted additives in their products. Minn.Stat. § 461.17 (Supp.1997). Texas requires that the tobacco companies report brand-specific ingredient information, in descending quantities. Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. §§ 161.351-55 (West Supp.2001). While this scheme superficially looks like the challenged Massachusetts legislation, Texas protects the ingredient lists by prohibiting public disclosure when those lists would be considered trade secrets under either federal or state law. Id. at § 161.254(c). The tobacco companies have complied and continue to comply with these disclosure requirements and have never challenged their validity.
C. The Disclosure Act
In 1996, Massachusetts enacted the Disclosure Act, ostensibly to promote public health. Citing the fact that various tobacco product additives may have adverse health effects when burned, either alone or in combination with other additives, Massachusetts expressed an interest in being able to study more accurately the health effects of tobacco products on consumers. Massachusetts was also concerned that certain additives may increase nicotine delivery and that those additives might be used in cigarettes advertised as having a lower nicotine content.
In Massachusetts’ view, previous disclosure requirements did not allow it to investigate adequately these public health concerns. For example, the publicly available ingredient lists do not identify additives according to brand or manufacturer. Therefore, Massachusetts could not study the interaction of additives and know whether those additives are actually combined. Nor could Massachusetts study the additives used in more popular brands and those brands targeted to younger consumers. No one disputes that these suggested studies are laudable and within the health and safety realm of the state’s traditional police powers.
Massachusetts, however, has an additional goal to be realized through the Disclosure Act: it hopes to publicize the ingredient lists of various brands. This information, Massachusetts believes, will help consumers make more informed choices about the tobacco products they choose to consume. The envisioned effect is greater public awareness about the potential health effects of tobacco additives.
With these considerations in mind, Massachusetts enacted the Disclosure Act, which reads, in relevant part:
For the purpose of protecting the public health, any manufacturer of cigarettes, snuff or chewing tobacco sold in the commonwealth shall provide the department of public health with an annual report, in a form and at a time specified by that department, which lists for each*29 brand of such product sold the following information:
(a) The identity of any added constituent other than tobacco, water or reconstituted tobacco sheet made wholly from tobacco, to be listed in descending order according to weight, measure, or numerical count; and
... [Any] information in the annual reports with respect to which the department determines that there is a reasonable scientific basis for concluding that the availability of such information could reduce risks to public health, shall be public records; provided, however, that before any public disclosure of such information the department shall request the advice of the attorney general whether such disclosure would constitute an unconstitutional taking of property, and shall not disclose such information unless and until the attorney general advises that such disclosure would not constitute an unconstitutional taking.2
Mass. Gen. Laws § 307B (emphasis added). Therefore, the Disclosure Act establishes two threshold requirements before an ingredient list “shall” be made public: (1) there must be a finding that publication “could reduce risks to public health;” and (2) the Massachusetts Attorney General must find that disclosure would not be an unconstitutional taking. Id.
Some further requirements have been established by regulations enacted under the Disclosure Act. Mass. Regs.Code tit. 105, § 660.200. These regulations require the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (“DPH”) to provide sixty days’ notice to the manufacturer before the proposed disclosure. Id. at § 660.200(E). To prevent disclosure, the manufacturer may remove its product from Massachusetts or reformulate it. Id. at § 660.200(F). An amendment to the regulations also allows the manufacturer to suspend disclosure by filing a lawsuit. Id. at § 660.200(G). Finally, until all requirements of the Disclosure Act and its enabling regulations have been met, the regulations provide that the DPH will keep the tobacco companies’ ingredient lists confidential. Id. at § 660.200(G)(2).
II.
Procedural Background
The various tobacco companies filed this action in 1996, shortly after the Disclosure Act was enacted.
A threshold issue arose as to whether the Disclosure Act is preempted by either the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1331-41, or the Comprehensive Smokeless Tobacco Health Education Act of 1986, 15 U.S.C. § 4401-OS. The district court held that there was no preemption, and we affirmed. Philip Morris, Inc. v. Harshbarger,
Following this affirmance, all parties filed motions for summary judgment. On September 7, 2000, the district court entered a Memorandum and Order granting the tobacco companies’ motions and denying appellants’ motion for summary judgment. Phillip Morris, Inc. v. Reilly,
Appellants filed timely appeals in which they challenged the district court’s findings on the constitutional claims. Additionally, they argued that the tobacco companies’ claims are not ripe because the Disclosure Act does not mandate publication of the submitted ingredient lists. In an opinion which has subsequently been withdrawn, a divided panel of this Court reversed. It found that the tobacco companies’ claims are ripe, but agreed with appellants that the Disclosure Act does not violate the Takings, Due Process, or Commerce Clauses. The dissent agreed that the claims are ripe and the Disclosure Act does not contravene the Commerce Clause. However, it found violations of -both the Takings and Due Process Clauses.
After a timely petition, we granted en banc review as to whether the Disclosure Act violates either the Takings or Due Process Clauses. Our review does not include revisiting the issues of whether the tobacco companies’ claims are ripe or whether the Disclosure Act violates the Commerce Clause.
III.
Standard of Review
Because this case reaches us on appeal from a grant of summary judgment, I review the district court’s judgment de novo. Euromotion, Inc. v. BMW of N. Am., Inc.,
IV.
Takings Analysis
The tobacco companies allege, and the district court found, that the Disclosure Act unconstitutionally takes the tobacco companies’ property when it requires the tobacco companies to disclose their ingredient lists to Massachusetts, which may, in turn, publish those lists. To support this claim, the tobacco companies first argue that their ingredient lists are trade secrets and, as such, are property protected by the Takings Clause. Second, they argue that the public disclosure of these trade secrets destroys their value, thereby effecting a taking. Appellants counter with two separate arguments. First, they claim that the tobacco companies’ interest in keeping their ingredient lists secret does not defeat the state’s ability to require public disclosure where, as here, the requirement is “rationally related to a legitimate govern
A. Trade Secret Protection in Massachusetts
In most states, trade secrets are property protected by the Takings Clause, see Monsanto,
Rather, appellants make a more subtle, but nonetheless ultimately ineffective, argument. Despite recognizing that Massachusetts’ laws provide a remedy for misappropriation of trade secrets by private actors, see Junker v. Plummer,
In support of this argument, appellants first point to the Restatement (First) of Torts which says that the law may require the disclosure of a trade secret to “promote some public interest.” § 757, cmt. d (1939). Certainly, courts have long recognized that trade secrets generally can be subject to disclosure under certain limited circumstances. See, e.g., Corn Prods. Ref. Co. v. Eddy,
Second, appellants argue that General Chemical Corp. estabhshes that the state may generahy seize trade secrets in the pubhc interest. That case established no such proposition. Rather, the court only assumed, arguendo, that the state legislature could deprive hazardous waste industries of certain trade secrets in the context of regulating those industries. Id. at 185. Therefore, the case provides no notice that trade secrets are subject to disclosure.
Third, appellants point to the Massachusetts public records law which establishes that when a law requires trade secret information to be filed with a state agency, nothing requires those trade secrets to be treated as confidential. In fact, the public records law makes such information publicly available. See Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 4, § 7, cl. 26 (providing trade secret protection only when the information is submitted voluntarily, to further public policy development, and with a guarantee of confidentiality). Therefore, appellants argue that the tobacco companies have no property interest in their ingredient lists once a law requires them to submit that information to the state. Whether Massachusetts guarantees the confidentiality of trade secrets once they have been submitted to a state agency has no bearing on whether Massachusetts creates a property interest in trade secrets that is protected by the Takings Clause. Holders of trade secrets can always voluntarily submit their information to a state, consequently losing their property right. See, e.g., Monsanto,
And the answer to that question is clear. Massachusetts protects trade secrets, Gen. Chem. Corp.,
B. The Takings Clause
The Supreme Court has distinguished between two branches of Takings Clause cases: physical takings and regulatory takings. See Tahoe-Sierra Pres. Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Reg’l Planning Agency,
Here, there is an alleged taking of intellectual property — trade secrets. The Supreme Court has addressed an alleged taking of trade secrets only once, in Monsanto. There, the Court simply applied the multi-factored regulatory takings analysis enunciated in Penn Central. Monsanto,
Before proceeding to the Penn Central analysis, I note that the tobacco companies argue that the Lucas per se rule governs this ease.
Furthermore, 1 note that applying the Penn Central regulatory takings framework is not practically different from utilizing per se rules. Functionally, these per se rules are simply shortcuts. See Tahoe-Sierra,
As a final point before considering the Penn Central factors as they apply to this case, I would like to address the heavy charge leveled by the concurrence: that application of the Penn Central framework to this case ignores principles of stare decisis. See infra p. 47. I emphatically disagree with this characterization and am of the view that such a conclusion is only possible by the use of a self-serving definition of the term stare decisis.
As noted by the concurrence, the jurisprudence in this area is convoluted and subject to various interpretations. The fact that the concurrence and I understand Monsanto differently is not surprising. What is surprising is that the concurrence takes that understandable difference in opinion and translates it into an accusation that I am ignoring stare decisis. The heart of our disagreement lies with our conflicting interpretations of Monsanto, particularly as to the Court’s discussion of the second scheme. See infra pp. 36-38, 40-44, 45-46. The concurrence finds that this discussion disposes of our current case and I simply do not agree, for reasons explained elsewhere. I do not think that Monsanto established a per se rule that once a trade secret holder establishes a reasonable investment-backed expectation the government may not require disclosure without triggering the protections of the Takings Clause. Since I interpret Monsanto to require courts to apply the Penn Central framework in cases like ours, I now proceed with that analysis.
i. Reasonable Investment-Backed Expectations
Despite the importance of reasonable investment-backed expectations under the Penn Central framework, the courts have struggled to adequately define this term. See generally R.S. Radford & J. David Breemer, Great Expectations: Will Palazzolo v. Rhode Island Clarify the Murky Doctrine of Investment-Backed Expectations in Regulatory Takings Law?, 99 N.Y.U. Envtl. L.J. 449, 449-50 (2001). Some very general contours are clear. Courts protect only reasonable expectations. Ideally, the relevant inquiry should recognize that not every investment deserves protection and that some investors inevitably will be disappointed. See Frank I. Michelman, Property, Utility, and Fairness: Comments on the Ethical Foundations of “Just Compensation” Law, 80 Harv. L.Rev. 1165, 1213 (1967). However,
Monsanto answered a challenge to disclosures by the EPA of data which had been submitted under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (“FI-FRA”). 7 U.S.C. §§ 136-136y. FIFRA was enacted in 1947, amended in 1972, and amended again in 1978, each time offering different protections to submitted data. Monsanto challenged disclosures of data which had been submitted under each of these schemes, and the Court looked at the protections provided by each scheme to determine whether applicants had a reasonable investment-backed expectation that their trade secrets would remain secret. Following the Supreme Court’s lead, I recount the provisions of each scheme and the Court’s corresponding concerns.
In the period between 1947 and 1972, “FIFRA was primarily a licensing and labeling statute,” Monsanto,
The 1972 amendments transformed FI-FRA from a labeling statute to a “comprehensive regulatory statute.” Id. at 991,
It was this second scheme that raised possible constitutional problems. Id. at 1010-14,
If, despite the data-consideration and data-disclosure provisions in the statute, Monsanto chose to submit the requisite data in order to receive a registration, it can hardly argue that its reasonable investment-backed expectations are disturbed when EPA acts to use or disclose the data in a manner that was authorized by law at the time of the submission.
Id. at 1006-07,
Despite appellants’ arguments to the contrary, neither the first nor the third regime presented in Monsanto is directly analogous to the Disclosure Act. One stark difference sets them both apart and undermines their usefulness in this case. Monsanto complained about current and future disclosures of already submitted data. Monsanto,
The second scheme addressed by the Monsanto Court does shed some light on the current case, but it is not entirely dispositive. There, FIFRA provided Monsanto with an explicit guarantee of confidentiality. This guarantee established a
To answer that question I must look at the tobacco companies’ reasonable investment-backed expectations that they can maintain the integrity of their trade secrets. The fact that the Disclosure Act has been enacted is not dispositive because, as discussed above, Massachusetts cannot simply redefine property rights without regard to previously existing protections. See Webb’s Fabulous Pharmacies, Inc.,
To understand that legal tradition, I begin with a Supreme Court case from the early twentieth century which arguably provides constructive notice that ingredient lists are not inviolable. In Corn Products II, the Court considered whether it was a taking to require a manufacturer to disclose its ingredient list. In a tersely worded decision, the Court simply said:
And it is too plain for argument that a manufacturer or vendor has no constitutional right to sell goods without giving to the purchaser fair information of what it is that is being sold. The right of a manufacturer to maintain secrecy as to his compounds and processes must be held subject to' the right of the state, in the exercise of its police power and in promotion of fair dealing, to require that*40 the nature of the product be fairly set forth.
This second interpretation gains credence from a closer reading of Corn Products II. The Court was addressing not a public health statute but a statute to prevent consumer deception. Corn Prods. II,
More recent regulation, of both tobacco and other products, supports the idea that “fair information” is not always a complete ingredient list. While the federal government and other states worry about the health effects of tobacco additives, none of their regimes requires the publication of brand-specific ingredient lists. They either do not require brand-specific disclosures, or they grant the tobacco companies protections against public disclosure of ingredient lists submitted to the states. Furthermore, regulations governing other products recognize the difference between requiring accurate labeling and protecting secret formulas. For example, the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act allows additives to be grouped as “spices, flavoring, and coloring” without specifically identifying the individual ingredients. 21 U.S.C. § 343(i)(2). This allows many manufacturers to maintain their secret formulas.
ii. Economic Impact
In contrast to reasonable investment-backed expectations, the law regarding economic impact is fairly straightforward. The inquiry is whether the regulation “impair[s] the value or use of [the] property” according to the owners’ general use of their property. PruneYard Shopping Ctr.,
The evidence presented here is similarly straightforward. The appellees’ have spent millions of dollars developing the formulas for different brands. The evidence shows that public disclosure of the appellees’ ingredient lists, even in part, will make it much easier to reverse engineer those formulas. If competitors can obtain these formulas, they can replicate appellees’ products, undermining the value of appellees’ brands. Some of those brands, such as Marlboro, are worth billions of dollars. While it is impossible to predict the exact economic impact that the Disclosure Act will have, it is potentially tremendous.
iii. Character of the Government Action
In this last section, I delve into how the Disclosure Act regulates and what that regulation does to the tobacco companies’ trade secrets. See Hodel,
I begin with the tobacco companies’ argument that they will lose the right to exclude others from their trade secrets and, consequently, their trade secrets will lose all value. It appears paradigmatic that these assertions are true. In Monsanto, the Supreme Court recognized that, “[i]f an individual discloses his trade secret to others who are under no obligation to protect the confidentiality of the information, or otherwise publicly discloses the secret, his property right is extinguished.”
This fact may very well prove to be dispositive in this case. In Armstrong v. United States,
On the other hand, in Andrus v. Allard,
The end result reached in Andrus, however, must be compared with the result in Hodel.
The question then arises as to which line of cases governs here. The simple loss of economic value, alone, is probably not enough. See Lucas,
Appellants urge us, however, to consider the asserted state interest, promoting public health, as a counterbalance.
I simply am not convinced that the Disclosure Act, particularly the provisions about which the tobacco companies complain, really helps to promote public health. The Disclosure Act allows for full disclosure of the ingredient lists when doing so “could” further public health. This places an extremely low burden on Massachusetts. Frankly, for a state to be able to completely destroy valuable trade secrets, it should be required to show more than a possible beneficial effect. Cf. Keystone,
Because this is a crucial point, I wish to further clarify what I have just concluded above. I am not requiring Massachusetts to adopt the narrowest regulation possible to address its laudable goals. Rather, the tobacco companies complain about a specific element of the Disclosure Act, namely, that Massachusetts can publish their entire ingredient lists if doing so “could” further public health. A prior holding, which is not currently before us, decided that under this standard, Massachusetts will publish the tobacco companies’ ingredient lists.
iv. Conclusion — Regulatory takings analysis
As I conclude my analysis of the Penn Central factors, I first note that there is no formula as to how to weigh the importance of the various factors. As has been clear from the preceding discussion, different factors can be dispositive. See, e.g., Hodel,
Here, the tobacco companies have at least some reasonable investment-backed expectation that their trade secrets will remain secret and the economic impact of revelation is likely to be great. These factors, alone, may not be sufficient to raise this case to the level of an unconstitutional taking. However, the character of the government action determines the case. The Disclosure Act causes the tobacco companies to lose their trade secrets, entirely, and appellants advance no convincing public policy rationale to justify
This, unfortunately, does not completely end the inquiry. I must turn briefly to the doctrine of unconstitutional conditions.
C. Unconstitutional Conditions
The Disclosure Act is unlike some other challenged government actions because the tobacco companies do not need to cede their ingredient lists to Massachusetts. They can opt out entirely, simply by not selling their products in Massachusetts.
The doctrine of unconstitutional conditions is fairly well-developed. “[T]he government may not require a. person to give up a constitutional right — here the right to receive just compensation when property is taken for public use — in exchange for discretionary benefit conferred by the government where the benefit sought has little or no relationship to the property.” Dolan v. City of Tigard,
In the final element of Monsanto, the Court addressed whether the government could require pesticide manufacturers to submit trade secrets which could then be disclosed to other parties. Monsanto claimed that these data disclosure provisions created an unconstitutional condition. Monsanto,
Appellants argue that this holding governs here. I disagree. They claim that Massachusetts has a “legitimate Government interest” in protecting the health and safety of its citizens. I agree that this is indeed a legitimate state interest. My disagreement lies, rather, with the other side of the equation. The state must offer a valuable government benefit. Id. The right offered here is the right to sell tobacco products in Massachusetts. In Nollan, the Supreme Court considered what constitutes such a benefit with regard to land. The Court held that the right to build upon one’s land is not such a benefit that would allow a state to require a landowner to grant a public easement across his property. Id. at 833 n. 2,
Y.
Due Process Analysis
Because I find that the Disclosure Act is invalid under the Takings Clause, I will not address the question of whether it also violates the Due Process Clause.
VI.
Conclusion
For the reasons discussed above, I find that the Disclosure Act violates the Takings Clause. Therefore, I affirm the district court’s judgment.
Affirmed.
Notes
. The cigarette manufacturers joined in this case are Philip Morris Inc., RJ. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., and Lorillard Tobacco Co. The smokeless tobacco companies are U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co., Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., National Tobacco Co., Pinkerton Tobacco Co., and Swisher International, Inc.
. The Disclosure Act also requires the tobacco companies to disclose the nicotine yield ratings for each brand. Mass. Gen. Laws § 307B. This information may also be made public, according to the same guidelines governing the disclosure of the ingredient lists. The tobacco companies have not challenged this element of the Disclosure Act and, in fact, have been complying with it.
. The cigarette and smokeless tobacco manufacturers originally filed two separate suits. They were consolidated for trial and on appeal.
. In regard to the ripeness issue, which is not currently before us, appellants did claim that elements of the ingredient lists are not trade secrets as certain ingredients are widely known and published by the tobacco companies, themselves. However, appellants did not argue before the en banc court that the ingredient lists, in their entirety, are other than trade secrets.
. The concurrence argues that the Supreme Court’s application of the Penn Central factors essentially created a special rule for trade secrets that when “a trade secret holder has a reasonable investment-backed expectation that its trade secrets will remain secret, the sovereign’s use or divulgement of that information constitutes a taking.” Infra p. 47. This reading of Monsanto is too broad. First, the Supreme court has frequently found that one of the Penn Central factors is dispositive. See, e.g., Hodel v. Irving,
The concurrence attempts to argue that the broad reading of Monsanto does not call into question the legitimacy of many regulatory
The tobacco companies are challenging the Disclosure Act before complying with its provisions. They point to general laws protecting trade secrets as evidence of a reasonable investment-backed expectation that those trade secrets will remain protected property. The concurrence then wants to take that reasonable investment-backed expectation and say that Massachusetts can never override the tobacco companies’ property interest without violating the Takings Clause:
[AJctions speak louder than words. Once the Monsanto Court found that the trade secret holder possessed a reasonable investment-backed expectation in its trade secrets, the Court determined that such a taking, if not justly compensated, would be unconstitutional. Monsanto,467 U.S. at 1013-14 ,104 S.Ct. 2862 . This treatment mirrors a per se takings analysis.
Infra p. 52 n.26. This means that a chemical manufacturer could claim that it has a reasonable investment-backed expectation under state law and, therefore, the federal government may not require submission and possible publication of its trade secrets. The situation is indistinguishable from the current case, and the concurrence’s per se test leaves no room to consider the government’s substantial interests in disclosure (protecting public health and the environment) or if the chemical manufacturer receives a valuable government benefit in return.
The concurrence asserts an additional distinction between the Disclosure Act and various federal statutes: "the statute provides fair warning, and the trade secret holder can assess for itself the likelihood that the government will reveal submitted information.” Infra p. 49 n.23. At its heart, this argument boils down to a timing issue. The federal statutes are not new, and trade secret holders know that their trade secrets are potentially subject to disclosure. In contrast, the Disclosure Act is new, and the tobacco companies invested in and developed their trade secrets long before they became subject to disclosure. This, however is not a valid grounds on which to distinguish the Disclosure Act. In Palazzolo, the Court held that the fact a property owner acquired title to his land after the enactment of a regulation did not bar his claim that the regulation worked an unconstitutional taking. "It suffices to say that a regulation that otherwise would be unconstitutional absent compensation is not transformed into a background principle of the State's law by mere virtue of the passage of title.” Id. at 629-30,
There is simply no persuasive distinction between many existing regulatory regimes and the Disclosure Act when they are analyzed only according to the trade secret holders' reasonable investment-backed expectations. A more nuanced inquiry is needed.
. At the time Monsanto was decided, the most recent Supreme Court decision addressing the Takings Clause was Loretto v. Teleprompter Manhattan CATV Corp.,
. I note that the tobacco companies raise a physical takings claim when they argue that the Disclosure Act deprives them of the right to exclude others from their property, namely, their trade secrets. In Kaiser Aetna v. United States,
. As noted above, Lucas states that there is a per se taking whenever regulation destroys all beneficial uses of land.
. The 1978 amendments did provide some exclusions, including whether disclosure "would reveal 'manufacturing or quality control processes' or certain details about deliberately added inert ingredients.” Monsanto, 467 U.S. at 996,
. There is one element of the third Monsanto scheme which does not suffer from the same timing problem.
. As the concurrence correctly notes, the tobacco companies are hardly in a position to force the Massachusetts legislature to guarantee confidentiality to -submitted trade secrets. Furthermore, as this opinion addresses later, the tobacco companies are currently placed in the untenable position of having to choose between relinquishing their valuable trade secrets or pulling their products out of Massachusetts. This is an unconstitutional condition. However, the fact that Massachusetts is creating an unconstitutional condition has little, if anything, to do with whether the tobac- . co companies have a reasonable investment-backed expectation that their trade secrets will remain protected.
. I also note that the factual and procedural history of this case cautions me against a broad interpretation of its language. Com Products II reached the Court on appeal from a decision of the Kansas Supreme Court. Corn Prods. Ref. Co. v. Eddy,
. The dissent argues that there is indeed “an unambiguous promise of confidentiality” given to the tobacco companies. In support of this proposition, the dissent correctly notes that the tobacco companies are promised confidentiality until the requirements for disclosure- are met. Mass. Regs. Code tit. 105 § 660.200(G)(2). As previously identified, those requirements are simply (1) that Massachusetts finds that disclosure "could reduce risks to public health” and (2) that the Massachusetts Attorney General finds that such disclosure would not constitute an unconstitutional taking. Mass. Gen. Laws § 307B. The enabling regulations also promise that the confidentiality of the ingredient lists will be maintained during any litigation challenging specific disclosures. Mass. Regs.Code tit. 105 § 660.200(G)(2). While the dissent correctly describes the law, this does not undermine my point. Essentially, Massachusetts only promises confidentiality until it finds that disclosure "could” benefit public health. As discussed in the text, it is this low burden that is problematic. Should the tobacco companies comply with the Disclosure Act and Massachusetts decide to publish some information from the submitted ingredient lists because such publication "could” benefit public health, the tobacco companies cannot complain that this standard is too low. That is exactly the situation that confronted Monsanto, and the Supreme Court held that Monsanto was bound by the terms of the statute in effect when its data had been submitted. Monsanto,
The dissent also finds that third parties will be unable to compel disclosure of the ingredient lists under the public records statute. Materials or data that are "specifically or by necessary implication exempted from disclosure by statute” are clearly exempted from the definition of a public record. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 4, § 7, cl. 26(g). However, whether the Disclosure Act provides such a specific or necessary implication of exemption is a question for the Massachusetts courts, not this court. Until the lower courts decide this question in the affirmative, the tobacco companies risk publication of their ingredient lists by complying with the Disclosure Act.
. One might acknowledge that the Disclosure Act destroys the tobacco companies’ trade secrets but argue that because those trade secrets are inexorably tied to the underlying formulas, their destruction does not constitute an unconstitutional taking. In one case, the Supreme Court suggested that certain property interests can be completely extinguished so long as they axe attendant to other property rights. Keystone,
. Whether these two cases can actually be reconciled is unclear. When Hodel was decided, the Court split on the implications that its decision had on the precedential value of Andrus. Compare Hodel,
. The concurrence argues that the state’s interest in disclosure should not play a factor in the decision because Monsanto simply looked to the reasonable investment-backed expectations despite public health concerns. See infra p. 49. However, Monsanto presented a different problem, as discussed above. In enacting the second scheme, Congress made an up-front decision to protect the integrity of submitted trade secrets and promised confidentiality. The government could not later decide that public health concerns overrode that explicit government promise. Here, there is no explicit government promise of confidentiality, and the Supreme Court has factored the public interest into the Penn Central framework.
. In fact, the regime adopted by Massachusetts may actually be less effective at promoting public health. If entire ingredient lists are published, those ingredients which might pose a danger to health may very well be buried in the middle or end of lengthy lists. It appears from a lay perspective that making targeted disclosures of certain ingredients and ingredient groupings might be a more effective public health strategy.
. Under Monsanto, if the tobacco companies were to submit their trade secret information without any guarantee of confidentiality, they would lose all right to complain later about disclosure.
. Apparently when faced with disclosure regulations previously, some tobacco companies have simply withdrawn from those markets or reformulated the brands sold within those jurisdictions so as to avoid disclosures of certain ingredients. See Robert K. Hur, Takings, Trade Secrets, and Tobacco: Mountain or Molehill?, 53 Stan. L.Rev. 447, 488 (2000) (discussing the reaction of various tobacco companies to regulations imposed by Canada).
. The tobacco companies argue that there must be a "rough proportionality” between means and ends, a standard which has previously been used in evaluating unconstitutional conditions claims in the Takings Clause sphere. Dolan,
. When the panel addressed this question, the panel majority ignored the Court’s directive in Nollan. The majority justified their approach by noting that Nollan quotes a portion of the Monsanto opinion, which is actually a quotation from appellee Monsanto’s brief. See Nollan,
. I note that normally injunctive relief is not available under the Takings Clause. "Equitable relief is not available to enjoin an alleged taking of private property for public use, duly authorized by law, when a suit for compensation can be brought against the sovereign subsequent to the taking.” Monsanto,
Concurrence Opinion
(Concurring in the judgment).
I agree with the ultimate conclusion reached by Judge Torruella in the lead opinion: the Disclosure Act (section 307B) works a regulatory taking of the tobacco companies’ trade secrets and, in the bargain, places an unconstitutional condition on their right to conduct business in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I write separately, however, because of my doubts about the analysis that the lead opinion uses to reach that result.
I.
Judge Torruella and I start on common ground: both of us acknowledge the primacy of the Supreme Court’s treatment of trade secret takings in Ruckelshaus v. Monsanto Co.,
Having articulated my complete position on the relevance of Monsanto to the resolution of this case in Philip Morris, Inc. v. Harshbarger,
In light of this express guidance, I am at a loss as to why the lead opinion does not simply stop after concluding that “the tobacco companies have at least some reasonable investment-backed expectation that their trade secrets will remain secret.” Lead Op. at 46. Instead, that opinion proceeds to undertake a full Penn Central analysis, makes a series of unnecessary sub-holdings, and concludes (erroneously, in my view) that the tobacco companies’ reasonable investment-backed expectations, even when coupled with the likelihood of great economic impact, “may not be sufficient to raise this case to the level of an unconstitutional taking.” Id. Although the lead opinion then reaches the right result by finding the character of the governmental action to be determinative, id. at 46, I cannot reconcile this reasoning with Monsanto (which teaches that as long as a trade secret holder has a reasonable investment-backed expectation
I might add that the lead opinion seems to assume that when Penn Central applies, stare decisis does not. Id. at 33-34 n. 5. I disagree. In general — the exceptions are inapposite here — that doctrine obliges us to follow the most current Supreme Court precedent. The lead opinion’s application of Penn Central ignores the manner in which the Monsanto Court treated those factors in a materially indistinguishable situation. Stare decisis does not allow such hopscotching.
To be sure, the lead opinion purports to distinguish Monsanto on the ground that the Disclosure Act offers no promise of long-term confidentiality whereas FI-FRA — the federal statutory scheme at issue in Monsanto — contained such a guarantee. The lead opinion then concludes that FIFRA’s explicit guarantee “established a reasonable investment-backed expectation that Monsanto’s trade secrets would remain protected.” Lead Op. at 38-39. This reads Monsanto out of context. Although the “explicit governmental guarantee formed the basis of a reasonable investment-backed expectation” anent “trade secrets [already] submitted under the statutory regime in force,” Monsanto,
Viewed from this perspective, it is plain that Monsanto’s trade secrets were its to lose, regardless of how the FIFRA was written. This is why the Court found no taking with respect to the periods during which “Monsanto [wa]s aware of the conditions under which the data [we]re submitted,” yet submitted the data anyway. Id. at 1007,
Reading this record in light of Monsanto, I conclude, without serious question, that the tobacco companies have a reasonable investment-backed expectation that their trade secrets will remain secret before submission to the Commonwealth. After all, a secret remains a secret when not divulged, and there is no law that forces the tobacco companies to reveal their trade secrets to the Commonwealth if they decide to withdraw from the Massachusetts market. In the end, the tobacco companies are left with a Hobson’s choice: either comply with the Disclosure Act and forfeit your valuable trade secrets or withdraw from the lucrative Massachusetts market. This constitutes an unconstitutional condition on the tobacco companies’ right to sell their products in the Commonwealth, see Philip Morris II,
It is possible, of course, that the lead opinion is asking whether the owner of any trade secret that raises public health and safety concerns has a reasonable investment-backed expectation of continued secrecy in the absence of regulatory or statutory notice. If so, the answer is “yes”— according to no less an authority than Monsanto. Unlike the lead opinion, Lead Op. at 44-45, the Monsanto Court did not weigh the character of the government action to determine if it was tailored to achieve a laudable goal. Instead, the Court, even after acknowledging the “mounting public concern about the safety” of the products at issue,
II.
I have another doubt about the lead opinion’s approach. That opinion gives
I need not wax longiloquent here, preferring instead, in the interest of brevity, to reiterate what I said in my dissent to the original panel opinion (now withdrawn). See Philip Morris, Inc. v. Reilly,
The Court further elucidated the conceptual nature of rights in physical property in Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency,
This point is further supported by comparing the valuation of real and intellectual property. The basis of value for both is the owner’s right to exclude (relative to others’ demand for access). For example, it is obvious that, other things being equal, ten acres of undeveloped land in rural Maine is not as valuable as ten acres of undeveloped land in midtown Manhattan. If the physical thing itself were the basis of value, these tracts of equal size and topographical characteristics should be worth the same. The value differential results from the fact that people are willing to pay a higher price for access to Manhattan. Cf. The Executive’s Book of Quotations 168 (Oxford Univ. Press 1994) (citing the “[l]ong-standing real estate principle” of “[ljocation, location, location”). So too trade secrets: if I have a secret formula for, say, prune juice, people presumably will not be willing to pay as high a price for the secret as they would for a secret recipe for making Marlboro cigarettes.
In short, the value of trade secrets, like the value of land, is inextricably tied to both the demand of others for access and the legal enforceability of the owner’s right to exclude. In either case, if the right to exclude is diminished, the value decreases. And in either case, if the sovereign effectively deprives the owner of the right to exclude, the value is destroyed — and the Constitution requires just compensation. Limiting per se takings analysis to cases involving real property is a crude boundary with no compelling basis in the law. We should not be hesitant to take the next logical step when justice demands it.
I need go no further. Even the most laconic observer of the Supreme Court’s Takings Clause jurisprudence knows that the “question of what constitutes a ‘taking’ is one with which th[e] Court has wrestled on many occasions.” Monsanto,
. Contrary to the lead opinion’s assertion, Lead Op. at 33-34 n.5, this reading of Monsanto does not call into question the constitutionality of regulations such as 15 U.S.C. § 2613(a)(3). According to the Monsanto formulation, an entity subject to such a regulatory scheme would not have a reasonable investment-backed expectation that its trade secrets would remain secret if it submitted the information under circumstances meeting the statutory criteria for government divul-gence. Monsanto,
. As a practical matter, the tobacco companies cannot extract a promise of confidentiality from the Massachusetts legislature. They can only challenge the constitutionality of the laws passed by that august body.
. Consistent with this holding, Monsanto was not entitled to compensation for the pre-1972 period. The data revealed during that time frame did not fit the definition of a trade secret under state law because "the owner of the secret [did not] protectf ] his interest from disclosure to others.” Monsanto,
. The lead opinion reads Monsanto as confining its analysis to regulatory takings rather than extending per se rules to trade secrets. Lead Op. at 33-34. But actions speak louder than words. Once the Monsanto Court found that the trade secret holder possessed a reasonable investment-backed expectation in its trade secrets, the Court determined that such a taking, if not justly compensated, would be unconstitutional. Monsanto,
Dissenting Opinion
(Dissenting).
This case requires us to address the difficult doctrine of regulatory takings. I agree with much of the reasoning in Judge Torruella’s opinion. However, I believe that reasoning compels the conclusion that the Disclosure Act is not unconstitutional on its face. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.
I. TAKINGS CLAUSE
The tobacco companies mount only a facial challenge to the Disclosure Act. See Phillip Morris, Inc. v. Reilly,
The tobacco companies have not met that burden here. As Judge Torruella’s opinion indicates, the constitutionality of any given disclosure under the Act depends on how much — and what sort of— ingredient information is made public. The question of what information will be publicized cannot be answered by reference to the terms of the Act and its implementing regulations, which indicate only that Massachusetts may disclose some of the information it receives. Thus, there is nothing unconstitutional about the Act itself. What matters is how it is applied in each individual case.
A.
Judge Torruella reasons that publication of the tobacco companies’ “entire ingredi
Judge Torruella recognizes, however, that a more limited disclosure likely would not suffer from the same constitutional infirmities. Thus, he acknowledges that the tobacco companies “comply, without complaint, with regimes which require them to make confidential disclosures of brand-specific, ingredient information, see Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. §§ 161.351-55, or which require public disclosures when specific ingredients are used, see Minn.Stat. § 461.17.” Judge Tor-ruella observes that ingredient-specific disclosure, such as that required under Minnesota law, not only adequately serves the state’s interest in protecting public health, but actually does so more effectively than the across-the-board disclosure permitted under the Disclosure Act.
Implicit in Judge Torruella’s opinion, therefore, is the view that the outcome of the Penn Central analysis depends on whether Massachusetts publicizes the tobacco companies’ entire ingredient lists, or whether it engages in a more limited disclosure. I agree. If Massachusetts were to disclose only certain harmful ingredients, the economic burden on the companies would be significantly reduced. Although the fact that brand X contains ingredient Y may be a secret, the tobacco companies do not allege that the disclosure of such limited information would permit their competitors to discover and recreate brand-specific formulas. They reserve that charge for a disclosure of their entire ingredient lists, organized by relative amount on a brand-by-brand basis.
Moreover, a more limited disclosure undeniably would serve the state’s goal of protecting public health. Under current law, the federal Department of Health and Human Services “can study and report to Congress on the health effects of tobacco additives, including information on specific ingredients which may pose a health risk to consumers.” However, neither the federal government nor — as of yet — most states, can inform consumers about the presence of harmful ingredients in specific brands. As Judge Torruella recognizes, Massachusetts has a “significant” interest in promoting the health of its citizens, and its desire to help consumers make informed choices about tobacco products is “laudable.” If Massachusetts were to pursue those ends by disclosing brand-specific information about certain harmful ingredients, I believe the force of the state’s interests would outweigh the costs to the tobacco companies in the balance of factors. See Keystone Bituminous Coal Ass’n,
Thus, under Judge Torruella’s own reasoning, the Disclosure Act will effect an unconstitutional taking only if Massachusetts discloses the tobacco companies’ entire ingredient lists. It follows that, in order to hold that the Disclosure Act is unconstitutional on its face, we would have to conclude that it mandates such broad disclosure in every case, or at least a “large fraction” of them. Planned Parenthood v. Casey,
Notwithstanding the express terms of the Act, Judge Torruella proceeds on the assumption that Massachusetts necessarily will disclose the tobacco companies’ entire ingredient lists. He justifies that assumption by reference to the district court’s opinion, stating that “[a] prior holding, which is not currently before us, decided that under [the Disclosure Act], Massachusetts will publish the tobacco companies’ ingredient lists.” The district court decided no such thing. To the contrary, the court explicitly acknowledged Massachusetts’s argument that “the DPH may determine that the public health will be served by disclosure of only some of the ingredients on a list, not a whole list.”
Perhaps recognizing the limited nature of the district court’s holding, Judge Tor-ruella emphasizes that the Act “allows for” disclosure of the full ingredient lists. But the mere possibility of such broad disclosure is not enough to render the Act facially invalid. See Agins v. Tiburon,
C.
Judge Torruella also suggests that the fact that Massachusetts has the right to publish the entire ingredient lists renders the Act facially invalid because the mere possibility of disclosure is enough to put the companies on “constructive notice that if they comply with the Disclosure Act, their trade secrets may not remain secret.” Since the Act makes clear that the state might disclose trade secret information, the argument goes, the companies cannot submit their information to the state and then later claim that any proposed public dissemination is unconstitutional. On that view, if the tobacco companies choose to run the risk of such public dissemination in order to continue doing business in the state, they “can hardly argue that [their] reasonable investment-backed expectations are disturbed when [Massachusetts] acts to ... disclose the data in a manner that was authorized by law at the time of submission.” Ruckelshaus v. Monsanto Co.,
I do not think the choice is so stark. Unlike the regulatory scheme at issue in Monsanto, the Disclosure Act contains mechanisms by which the tobacco companies can protect their trade secrets from public dissemination even after submitting them to the state. If Massachusetts proposes to publicize any or all of the information contained in a tobacco company’s annual report, the company can stay disclosure by filing an as-applied challenge in a court of competent jurisdiction. See Mass. Regs.Code tit. 105, § 660.200(G) (1999). In the alternative' — -or in the event such a challenge fails — the company can withdraw its products from the Massachusetts market. See id. § 660.200(F).
Nor do I agree that future as-applied challenges necessarily will fail because the tobacco companies’ right to protect the confidentiality of their trade secrets will dissolve the moment they submit those secrets to the state. Under the Act and its implementing regulations, a public disclosure is “authorized by law,” Monsanto,
In sum, I disagree with Judge Torruel-la’s conclusion that the Disclosure Act is facially unconstitutional because it requires tobacco companies to submit their trade secrets to the ' state without any guarantees of confidentiality. The implementing regulations contain an unambiguous promise of confidentiality. Therefore, the initial act of submission to the state is not enough to destroy the value of the trade secrets. It is only when those secrets actually are made available to the public that the tobacco companies’ property interest dissolves. That, of course, brings us back to where we began: the relevant event for purposes of the Takings Clause is the actual (or imminent) disclosure of the tobacco companies’ trade secrets. As I explained above — and as Judge Torruella appears to recognize — the constitutionality of any given disclosure depends on how much, and what sort of, information Massachusetts proposes to make public. Accordingly, the Act is not unconstitutional in every application, and the tobacco companies’ facial challenge should fail.
II. DUE PROCESS
The tobacco companies also argue that the Disclosure Act denies them due process of law by permitting the state to destroy the value of their trade secrets without an adequate pre-deprivation hearing. I agree that the Disclosure Act authorizes the state to deprive the tobacco companies of a protected property interest in their trade secrets. However, I find no merit in the tobacco companies’ contention that the Act fails to meet the standards of the Due Process Clause.
As explained above, Massachusetts has enacted several regulations that contain important procedural safeguards. Under the regulations, Massachusetts must provide the tobacco companies sixty days’ written notice prior to publicizing any information in the ingredient lists. Mass. Regs.Code tit. 105, § 660.200(E). During that period, the tobacco companies may comment on Massachusetts’s decision to disseminate the information. Id. at § 660.200(A). Moreover, the tobacco companies may forestall any threatened disclosure by filing a lawsuit in a court of competent jurisdiction. Id. at § 660.200(G)(2).
Notwithstanding the unambiguous language of the regulations, the tobacco companies complain that the Act fails to “provide a meaningful opportunity for judicial review before valuable trade secrets con-cededly worth millions of dollars are disclosed and destroyed.” In a footnote, they add that the protections provided in § 660.200(G) — which delays any proposed disclosure until the completion of the sixty day notice period and/or any timely-filed lawsuit
The tobacco companies argue that the regulatory amendments setting forth the “pull-back” option, § 660.200(G)(2), will not preclude a third party from compelling inspection under the public records law because the regulations contravene the terms of the Disclosure Act. That is not so. “An administrative agency has jurisdiction to establish regulations that bear a rational relation to the statutory purpose.” Globe News. Co. v. Beacon Hill Architectural Comm.,
Therefore, it simply is not true that, notwithstanding the regulations, “third parties” will be able to compel disclosure of the tobacco companies’ trade secrets under Massachusetts’s public records stat
For the foregoing reasons, I respectfully dissent.
. Although the district court did not question the accuracy of that argument, it rejected Massachusetts’s claim that the possibility of partial disclosure rendered the tobacco companies’ takings claims unripe. See Phillip Morris III,
. The regulations state, in pertinent part:
(G) The Department shall treat information submitted pursuant to105 CMR 660 .101 as confidential unless and until:
(2) a determination to release the information is made in accordance with105 CMR 660 .200(A) through (E), the 60 day period referred to in105 CMR 660 .200(E) has elapsed, and no complaint has been filed in a court of competent jurisdiction challenging disclosure of the information on the grounds that disclosure would make available to the public a trade secret; [or] (3) disclosure of the information is authorized by judicial decision and the time for appeal in a court of competent jurisdiction has passed;
(H) In the event that a manufacturer files a complaint in a court of competent jurisdiction within the 60 day notice period specified in105 CMR 660 .200(E), challenging a proposed disclosure of information by the*57 Department on the grounds that disclosure would make available to the public a trade secret, the Department shall not disclose any of the information in question unless and until:
(1) the parties agree in writing to disclosure; or
(2) the court renders a decision authorizing disclosure; and
(3) the time has passed for filing an appeal of the decision in a court of competent jurisdiction.
Mass. Regs.Code tit. 105, § 660.200.
. Although the Disclosure Act explicitly states that the annual reports submitted by the tobacco companies pursuant to the Act are public records, the additional provisions of the Act and the supplemental regulations barring disclosure until there is compliance with certain procedures produces a result that is comparable to the result contemplated by Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 4, § 7, cl. 26(a) of the public records law. Under that subsection, materials or data “specifically or by necessary implication exempted from disclosure by statute” will not be considered public records, and therefore, are not open to inspection by the public. See Ottaway News. Inc. v. Appeals Court,
