Last week, we discussed common disputes you may face during the course of business.

Absent from the list is a dispute that may not be as common, but can be just as detrimental to your business – and it is the divulging of trade secrets by former employees.

When you hire an employee, there is a strong possibly that he or she will have access to and knowledge of trade secrets that you rely on in your business.

If there ever comes a time when the employee is no longer working with your company, you do not want those secrets to fall into the hands of your competition, do you?

What is a trade secret?

Florida’s Uniform Trade Secret Act defines a trade secret as:

…information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process that: (a) Derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by, other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use; and (b) Is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy. See Fla. Stat. §688.002

Can you prevent a former employee from working with the competition?

Florida law states that a former employee is free to take a job with any of your competitors when no agreement indicating otherwise is present. In fact, the courts believe it should be expected in the absence of an agreement.

In Lee vs. Cercoa, the Florida court said even in the absence of a non-compete agreement, a former employee is under a duty not to disclose any trade secrets – including skills, techniques or processes – in his or her new employment, whether for his own benefit or to the detriment of the previous employer.

If you can prove the employee has such knowledge, the court may be able to issue an injunction to stop the employee from working with the competition, but only if you can prove he/she either divulged or attempted to divulge trade secrets to your competitor.

Without this proof, you may not be able to take any action to protect your company’s trade secrets.

Contact our business lawyers to discuss steps you can take to protect your company’s trade secrets. You can use this form to email or call us at (954) 779-7009.

Tags: former employees, trade secrets, Uniform Trade Secret Act

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 at 2:43 pm and is filed under business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.