Letter requesting confidential treatment for Exhibit A

0809-EX-ST-2015 Text Documents

MC10, Inc.

2015-07-23ELS_165062

July 23, 2015 Federal Communications Commission 445 12"" Street, SW Washington, DC 20554 Re: Request for Confidential Treatment Dear Sir or Madame, Pursuant to Section 0.459(b) of the Commission‘s rules, 47 C.F.R. § 0.459(b), MC10, Inc. ("MC10") hereby requests confidential treatment of portions of the enclosed application for Special Temporary Authority ("Application"), dated July 23, 2015, which is being submitted electronically. In support of this request, MC10O states as follows: (1) Identification of the specific information for which confidential treatmentis sought; MC10 requests that the Commission withhold from public inspection, and afford confidential treatment to, the information redacted in the "public" version of the Application, consisting of information regarding MCI1O‘s device components contained in Exhibit A to the Application ("Confidential Material"). MC1O requests that the Commission effect this request by withholding the entirety of the unredacted "confidential" version of Exhibit A from inspection. (2) Identification of the Commission proceeding in which the information was submitted or a description of the circumstances giving rise to the submission; The Application is being submitted in response to the requirements imposed on MC1O by the Commission in 47 CFR 5.53 and 5.54. (3) Explanation of the degree to which the information is commercial or financial, or contains a trade secret or is privileged; The Confidential Material contains information regarding MC10‘s device components. This information is commercially and competitively highly sensitive. Public disclosure of this information could place MC10 at a competitive disadvantage vis—a—vis its competitors and could damage MC10‘s position in the marketplace. The Commission has long recognized that competitive harm can result from the disclosure of confidential business information. See Pan American Satellite Corporation, FOIA Control Nos. 85— 219, 86—38, 86—41 (May 2, 1986). (4) Explanation of the degree to which the information concerns a service that is subject to competition; The Confidential Material concerns MC10‘s activities in the market for health wearable devices. MC10 is subject to robust competition from numerous existing and potential service providers. Participants in adjacent market segments — e.g., wearable devices and mobile phone—based applications in the wellness and fitness space— apply additional competitive pressure. (5) Explanation of how disclosure of the information could result in substantial competitive harm; As discussed above, the Confidential Material contains highly sensitive commercial and technical product information. MC1O has a commercial interest in all of this information and would be harmed by its

disclosure. In particular, the disclosure of this information would provide competitors with unwarranted insights into the technical configuration of the MC10 devices and MC10‘s product strategy and would facilitate the development of strategic and competitively harmful responses by those competitors. (6) Identification of any measures taken by the submitting party to prevent unauthorized disclosure; The Confidential Material is not normally distributed, circulated, or provided to any party outside of MC1O that is not bound by confidentiality obligations. MC1O treats this information as highly sensitive information; thus only certain personnel within the company have access to it. (7) Identification of whether the information is available to the public and the extent of any previous disclosure of the information to third parties; The Confidential Material is not available to the public and has not previously been disclosed to third parties not bound by confidentiality obligations. (8) Justification of the period during which the submitting party asserts that material should not be available for public disclosure; and MC1O maintains that the Confidential Material should remain subject to confidential treatment indefinitely. Even historical data can be used to track trends or business decisions, and this information could then be used against MC10. (9) Any other information that the party seeking confidential treatment believes may be useful in assessing whether its request for confidentiality should be granted. MC10 notes that the Confidential Material is exempt from disclosure under Exemption 4 to FOIA. 5 U.S.C. §552(b)(4). Exemption 4 covers "trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential." Id. The exemption extends to all information that is: (i) commercial or financial, (ii) obtained from a person, and (iii) privileged or confidential. See National Parks and Conservation Association vs. Morton, 498 F.2d 765, 766 (D.C. Cir. 1974). The Confidential Material meets all three of these prongs. First, the terms "commercial" and "financial" are "given their ordinary meaning," and include any information in which a submitter holds a "commercial interest." Public Citizen Health Research Group vs. FDA, 704 F.24d 1280, 1288 (D.C. Cir. 1983). As noted above, the Confidential Material contains sensitive commercial information. MC1O has a commercial interest in all of this information; thus, it is "commercial or financial." Second, "obtained by a person" refers to receipt of information from "a wide range of entities, including corporations." Landfair v. U.S. Dep‘t. ofArmy, 645 F.Supp. 325, 327— 28 (D.D.C. 1986). MC1O is a corporation and it provided the Commission with the Confidential Material; thus, the information at issue here is "obtained by a person." Third, information is privileged or confidential if disclosure of it (i) is likely to cause substantial harm to the submitter‘s competitive position, (ii) would make it difficult for the government to obtain reliable information in the future, or (iii) would impair other governmental interests. See Judicial/ Watch, Inc. v. Exp.—Imp. Bank, 108 F. Supp. 24 19, 28—29 (D.D.C. 2000). As discussed above,

disclosure of the Confidential Material would cause substantial harm to MC10‘s competitive position. For this reason, disclosure of the Confidential Material also would encourage MC1O and others "to be less forthcoming in their submissions, out of concern both for appearances and their own financial interests." Id. at 29—30. Please contact the undersigned should you have any questions concerning this filing. By: ‘MAL Name: Alice Sansone Title: VP and General Counsel


Document Created: 2015-07-23 13:27:01
Document Modified: 2015-07-23 13:27:01
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