Business Sensitive Information (BSI)

Some companies use the term, 'business sensitive information' for categories of documents and data which are not considered to be private, but for which certain protections may be required. Trade secrets, information which falls under non-disclosure agreements, and data subject to copyrights or patents may be considered 'BSI'. The information may be about a business or its clients, investments or competitors.

The Breach Response Plan of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation defines BSI as information that could be used to identify a company for the purposes of committing fraud or another crime.

A statement of work prepared by IBM distinguishes between BSI, PII, and other types of information.

In ruling on a motion to quash a subpoena request for board of directors PowerPoint presentations concerning but not limited to the subject matter of the case, Judge Colin Lindsay held that, ". . . it appears that plaintiffs are simply seeking business information about Express from Sterling. Although not directly mentioned in response to this request, the Court realizes that plaintiffs assert that Express sought to expand within the HSRG market using, at least in part, Vogt's customer list and other information obtained by Kapsalis during his employment with plaintiffs. Nonetheless, the scope of this request is overbroad because it could capture a wide range of business-sensitive information that has no relevance to this case." Babcock Power, Inc. v. Kapsalis, No. 3:13-CV-717-DJH-CHL, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23554, at *12 (W.D. Ky. Feb. 25, 2016) (emphasis added).