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CRACKDOWN ON EXITING EMPLOYEES STEALING TRADE SECRETS

Fulton County Daily Report EXTREME COMPETITION and fluid work force bring more employer actions against those who walk out with client lists and patented formulas TRESA BALDAS DEPARTING EMPLOYEES who steal company secrets on their way out are a growing problem for corporate America, prompting employers to step up legal actions against computer data thieves. Labor and employment attorneys say that given the highly competitive nature of today's business world and a more fluid work force, corporate espionage has become a growing threat for employers. The culprits, they say, range from employees who steal information to start their own business to those who leave to work for a competitor and want to take patented formulas, strategies or customer lists with them. In New Jersey, an employer is suing a group of former senior-level employees, alleging that they improperly accessed the company's computer system, obtained revenue and marketing information and used the information to determine where to locate a competing business. The case is P.C. of Yonkers v. Celebrations! The Party and Seasonal Superstore, 2007 U.S. Dist. Lexis 15216 (D.N.J. 2007). In Minnesota, a judge on Sept. 18 ruled that the former publisher of the St. Paul Pioneer Press unlawfully took confidential information and shared it with the paper's competitor, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, when he took over as publisher there. Judge David C. Higgs found that Par Ridder, who was accused of leaving the paper with a laptop filled with confidential information, violated the state's trade secrets act and his common law duty of loyalty to the Pioneer Press. Ridder was barred from working at his new job for one year. The case is Northwest Publications v. StarTribune Co., No. C6-07-003489 (Ramsey Co., Minn., Dist. Ct.). Lawyers note that, while corporate espionage is nothing new, what is new is the ease with which it can be done.

Full post as published by The Trade Secrets Vault on February 13, 2008 (boomark / email).