Stolen Confidential Information
I am being sued by my former employer for using "stolen confidential information" to solicit business from their clients. The client in question was also sued but subsequently dismissed. The client did not fall into my non-compete agreement region. I'm assuming that they are referring to their customer list as "stolen confidential information" or the client's own data? The client contacted me for services and I did not have a client list other than the ones I know in memory. I don't feel like this is a legitimate case but am looking for an opinion on whether I have liability in this?
1 answer | asked Jul 20, 2008 4:48 PM [EST] | applies to Ohio
Answers (1)
Under Ohio's Trade Secret's Act, a client list may be a trade secret if it was kept secret by the employer and otherwise meets the Trade Secret definition, found in Ohio Revised Code section 1333.61 (http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/1333.61).
A recent Ohio Supreme Court case held that a trade secret, there also a client list, that was contained only in the head of the former employee, who memorized it, met the definition of a trade secret under the Act. The Court held that the client list did not lose its status as a trade secret merely because it had been memorized. The case is Minor v. Martin (http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/docs/pdf/0/2008/2008-ohio-292.pdf).
Regards,
Neil.
posted by Neil Klingshirn | Jul 23, 2008 08:30 AM [EST]
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