Innocent Receipt of Trade Secrets

Liability for trade secret theft requires that the party acquiring the information have done so through improper means or through breach of a confidential relationship. Improper means include theft, bribery, wiretapping, using one's own employees to become employees of a competitor for the purpose of obtaining confidential information, and inducing others to disclose valuable trade secret information. Confidential relationships include the employer–employee relationship and can arise either by express agreement or by the conduct of the parties. Thus, if under the circumstances parties would ordinarily believe information was confidential, a duty to protect it arises. For example, if a company official discloses ...

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