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Amazon is suing a Washington state agency to prevent the release of some company materials to The Washington Post, the newspaper which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
In a lawsuit filed this week in King County Superior Court, the Seattle-based company asked the court to step in and block the release of documents that include “trade secrets” about Project Kuiper, an Amazon initiative to provide internet through satellites in space.
The files were collected by the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries during four on-site investigations of a Project Kuiper facility between August and October of last year, according to Amazon’s lawsuit.
In November, The Washington Post requested copies of the agency’s documents through a public records request, according to the lawsuit, which does not say what state investigators found.
In its legal filing, Amazon said it is not seeking to prevent the disclosure of all documents related to the investigations, but sensitive personal information, such as names of its employees, and proprietary records that would reveal the company’s technological capabilities.
The Department of Labor & Industries notified Amazon about The Post’s request in early January. The lawsuit said the agency provided the company a link to the records it proposed releasing to the newspaper, giving Amazon the opportunity to review them and go to court to block information it deemed sensitive.
Amazon and the agency previously worked together on public record requests, according to the lawsuit. However, both sides have also been at odds over worker safety issues.
In 2022, Amazon sued the agency following disputes with regulators over citations and fines. Last year, Amazon also was involved in a high-profile worker safety case in Washington last year after regulators alleged that the company had put warehouse employees at unnecessary risk of injuries. A judge ruled in favor of Amazon in July. At the time, the agency had reportedly planned to appeal the decision.
A representative for the agency did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday about Amazon’s recent lawsuit. A spokesperson for The Washington Post declined to comment.
Bezos founded Amazon.com in 1994 and served as its chief executive until he stepped down from the role in 2021. In 2013, the billionaire purchased The Washington Post for $250 million.
Separately, Amazon said this week it would lay off “a small number” of employees who work within its communication and corporate responsibility department. The move is expected to impact dozens of corporate workers.
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