trade secret claim in New York

2024In deciding a plaintiff’s trade secret claim, courts will consider: (1) the extent to which the information is known outside of [the] business; (2) the extent to which it is known by employees and others involved in [the] business, (3) the extent of measures taken by [the business] to guard the secrecy of the information; (4) the value of the information to [the business] and [its] competitors; (5) the amount of effort or money expended by [the business] in developing the information; (6) the ease or difficulty with which the information could be properly acquired or duplicated by others (Ashl

2003In deciding a trade secret claim, the court must make a factual determination concerning whether the alleged trade secret is truly “secret” by considering: “ ‘(1) the extent to which the information is known outside of [the] business; (2) the extent to which it is known by employees and others involved in [the] business; (3) the extent of measures taken by [the business] to guard the secrecy of the information; (4) the value of the information to [the business] and [its] competitors; (5) the amount of effort or money expended by [the business] in developing the information; (6) the ease or dif

2015As with the trade secret claim, the idea misappropriation claim cannot extend to material in the public domain ( see Marraccini v Bertelsmann Music Group Inc. , 221 AD2d 95, 98 [3d Dept 1996] [affirming dismissal of misappropriation claim where idea was a "creative variation" on an idea preexisting in the public domain], lv denied 89 NY2d 809 [1997]; Oasis Music v 900 U.S.A. , 161 Misc 2d 627, 631 [Sup Ct, NY County 1994] [idea that is merely "a variation on a basic theme" available in the public domain is not novel]).

2015As with the trade secret claim, the idea misappropriation claim cannot extend to material in the public domain (see Marraccini v Bertelsmann Music Group, 221 AD2d 95, 98 [3d Dept 1996] [affirming dismissal of misappropriation claim where idea was a “creative variation” on an idea preexisting in the public domain], lv denied 89 NY2d 809 [1997]; Oasis Music v 900 U. S. A., 161 Misc 2d 627, 631 [Sup Ct, NY County 1994] [idea that is merely “a variation on a basic theme” available in the public domain is not novel]).

2015As with the trade secret claim, the idea misappropriation claim cannot extend to material in the public domain ( see Marraccini v Bertelsmann Music Group Inc. , 221 AD2d 95, 98 [3d Dept 1996] [affirming dismissal of misappropriation claim where idea was a "creative variation" on an idea preexisting in the public domain], lv denied 89 NY2d 809 [1997]; Oasis Music v 900 U.S.A. , 161 Misc 2d 627, 631 [Sup Ct, NY County 1994] [idea that is merely "a variation on a basic theme" available in the public domain is not novel]).

2015As with the trade secret claim, the idea misappropriation claim cannot extend to material in the public domain (see Marraccini v Bertelsmann Music Group, 221 AD2d 95, 98 [3d Dept 1996] [affirming dismissal of misappropriation claim where idea was a “creative variation” on an idea preexisting in the public domain], lv denied 89 NY2d 809 [1997]; Oasis Music v 900 U. S. A., 161 Misc 2d 627, 631 [Sup Ct, NY County 1994] [idea that is merely “a variation on a basic theme” available in the public domain is not novel]).

2008“Leo Silfen, Inc. v. Cream does suggest that one factor in analyzing a trade secret claim against an employee who has solicited a former employer’s customers is whether the solicitation was merely ‘the product of casual memory.’ 29 N.Y.2d at 391 . . . [W]e do not [, however,] read Leo Silfen to describe a broad rule dictating that anything an employee remembers casually is not a trade secret.

2003While a physical taking or studied copying of the employer’s client information may result in a court enjoining solicitation based not on a trade secret violation but as an egregious breach of trust and confidence (see Silfen, Inc. v Cream, 29 NY2d 387, 391-392 [1972]), on this motion plaintiff failed to prove its allegation that defendant took a handwritten customer list before her employment was terminated.