An employee of a Bay Areas executive recruiting firm who left to start his own firm was sentenced to one year in prison after being found guilty of trade secret theft and unauthorized computer access crimes. David Nosal was a former managing director at Korn/Ferry International and left in 2004 to start his own firm.
customer lists
Trade Secret Defendants Beware: The Danger of Stipulated Injunctions
By Charles L. Post on
Posted in Trade Secrets and Competition
The Cruel Lessons of Wanke, Industrial, Commercial, Residential, Inc. v. Keck (2012) 209 Cal.App.4th 1151
By: Charles L. Post
Defendants in trade secret and unfair competition cases often have fewer resources than the plaintiff companies that bring them. This is often the case in “classic” trade secret misappropriation scenarios: former employees form a new…
REFRESHER: When is a Customer List or Customer Information Trade Secret?
By Charles L. Post on
Posted in Trade Secrets and Competition
Courts are reluctant to protect customer lists when they consist of information from public sources (such as business directories). (Morelife, Inc. v. Perry (1997) 56 Cal.App.4th 1514, 1521-1527.) On the other hand, where the employer has expended time and effort identifying customers with particular needs or characteristics, courts will prohibit former employees from…
Trade Secret Preemption Revisited
By James Kachmar on
Posted in Trade Secrets and Competition
This blog has periodically visited the issue of preemption in trade secret cases. Preemption arises when a plaintiff alleges common law causes of action (such as conversion or interference with economic relations) with a trade secret misappropriation claim that is based on the “same nucleus of facts.” California courts have repeatedly held that California’s Uniform…