United States

In 1999, the United States filed a lawsuit against the major cigarette manufacturers and related trade organizations alleging that defendants fraudulently misled American consumers for decades about the risks and dangers of cigarette smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke in violation of the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). In 2006, the court found that defendants violated civil provisions of RICO and that there was a reasonable likelihood that defendants would continue to violate RICO in the future. On appeal, the district court’s findings were upheld, in part, vacated, in part, and remanded, in part, to the district court. After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear appeals from both sides in the case in June 2010, the district court began to implement the 2006 final order.

The government filed a motion for clarification regarding defendants' obligation to disclose disaggregated marketing data under the 2006 final order. The court ordered defendants to disclose all marketing data disaggregated by geographical region, type of marketing, and any other categories of data collected or maintained on defendants' behalf and held that the Department of Justice could disclose the data to other governmental entities.