RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A company that sued to keep a complaint about one of its products out of a publicly accessible federal database was improperly allowed to wage its battle in secret, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the public’s right to access to judicial records trumps any possible damage to the company’s reputation and bottom line. The court returned the case to U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. in Maryland with orders to unseal it and reveal the company’s identity.