Trade Secrets (US Centric).
Assume this following case occurs in one of the 45 states that have ratified a version of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA).
Mrs. Jones began to commercially produce chocolate chip cookies in 1990 that were only moderately successful. When she added crushed “walnut dust” to her recipe in 1993, sales skyrocketed as never before. Mrs. Jones always kept her recipe secret and would never give the formula to anyone other than a few trusted top employees. The recipe was always kept locked up in the wall vault at the cookie factory.
Mr. Smith, who was a janitor/maintenance man working for Mrs. Jones at one time, has started his own chocolate chip cookie factory. Mrs. Jones is suspicious of this because Mr. Smith had no prior professional baking experience and Mr. Smith’s cookies tasted extremely similar to hers. She is suing him for stealing a trade secret.
Shortly after Mr. Smith left his job with Mrs. Jones, the master keys for Mrs. Jones entire Cookie Factory were found in Mr. Smith’s former desk drawer. Mr. Smith states he cannot recall ever having access to all those keys—particularly the one that would have opened up Mrs. Jones’ office where the cookie recipe was kept. He states he did not steal the recipe, but rather just learned to make the cookie after observing activities at his former place of employment.
Mrs. Jones claims that it took time, money and a substantial amount of experimentation to finally develop her special recipe.
Mrs. Jones requests that the court place an injunction on the Smith Cookie Factory’s production of this very similar cookie. She believes that her special “walnut dust” constitutes a particular trade secret.
An independent lab stated that the two cookies were “identical in chemical composition, texture, taste and appearance. Also of the 40 chocolate chip cookies commercially produced in that area, these are the only two that “appear to be identical.”
Should Mr. Smith be ordered to stop all cookie production?
Why or why not?
Feel free to comment about the broader implications of such a topic. This is similar to another Intellectual Property thread created but not quite the same. I'm just wondering who would be in the right in this case. I cannot support either side, to be honest.