On July 28, 2004, the New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed the reversal of a trial court decision that had ordered the release of internal corporate documents belonging to Goodyear. The decision was a victory for WLF, which filed a brief arguing that internal documents do not become fair game for public release simply because they have been made available to the opposing party in a lawsuit. The trial court had ordered release of 14 documents on the ground that Goodyear had made an insufficient showing that the documents contained trade secrets. In affirming the appeals court’s reversal of that decision, the New Jersey Supreme Court agreed with WLF that the public has no right of access to documents that have not been introduced as evidence in a court proceeding. Rather, such documents remain fully private even after being produced in connection with litigation, and even the opposing party may not disclose the document if it is subject to a court-imposed protective order.