Definition
A 1982 U.S. court order that broke up the AT&T telephone monopoly and reshaped how telecommunications services — including aviation communications infrastructure such as leased lines for FAA facilities and flight service stations — could be provided and contracted in the United States.
Plain English
A court ruling from 1982 that ended AT&T's nationwide phone monopoly and changed how phone and data services are bought, including the lines used by aviation systems.
Context Anchor
Seen in FAA acronym lists or legal and administrative aviation material; it is not normally used during flight operations.
Derivation
‘Modified’ means changed or revised; ‘final judgment’ is the court's binding decision that ends a case. The name signals that this was a revised version of an earlier antitrust ruling against AT&T.
Why Pilots Care
Pilots mainly need to recognize that this abbreviation points to a legal document or ruling, not to an aircraft action or operating instruction.
Intuition Check
Do not read “judgment” here as a pilot’s decision or opinion. Here it means a formal decision made by a court.
Example Sentence 1
The acronym list notes MFJ alongside other telecommunications references because aviation ground communications relied heavily on circuits affected by the modified final judgment.
Example Sentence 2
Understanding the MFJ helps explain why certain legacy radio systems were structured the way they were.