The Roman Empire and misappropriation or theft of trade secrets The Roman courts recognized a cause of action for actio servi corrupti, which means an action for corrupting a slave Slave owners relied on the cause to protect them from theft of confidential business information by third parties who would intimidate, bribe, or corrupt their slaves into disclosing the information
Presently, what entities require trade secret protection? Who is most likely to disclose a trade secret? Who is most likely to benefit from disclosure?
Utilitarian Theory
Deterrence Theory
Property Rights Protecting against theft, improper use or disclosure of proprietary information encourages investment in such information
Commercial Morality or duty-based obligation Discourage wrongful or illicit commercial behavior that undermines trust
What is a trade secret? Is there a threshold requirement of creativity or innovation before protection becomes available? What elements are required to state a claim for misappropriation, theft, or improper use? What are the tests for each of these elements?
Answers
A trade secret means information, including a formula, patent, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process, that:
derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by, other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use, and is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under circumstances to maintain its secrecy
No, a threshold is not required; the only requirement is secrecy of information that derives independent economic value from remaining secret
Answers
Generally, there are three elements (and their tests) to a trade secret claim: the subject matter involved must qualify for trade secret protection
it must be the type of knowledge or information that trade secret law was meant to protect; and it must not be generally known to all through deception or theft through breach of an explicit obligation through breach of an implied duty diligence constructive knowledge standard
a showing of misappropriation