What Recourse is There Against a Company Spy
Full Question:
Answer:
The answer depends on all the circumstances involved, such as whether there was an employment contract with the person and if it contained a non-compete and/or non-disclosure agreement. In some cases employers make non-solicitation agreements not to lure each other's employees in their own employ.
A business that wants to protect trade secrets, patents, inventions, sales territories, customer lists, and similar confidential business information often find it helpful and desirable to place the terms of the employer-employee relationship in a binding, written employment contract. Noncompete and confidentiality clauses may be used in an agreement with an independent contractor (please see links to forms below).
Confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements are used to impose confidentiality obligations on parties receiving information on materials from disclosing parties which consider such information or material to be confidential. The agreement may contain terms that prohibit the disclosure of confidential information and competition with your business. The employment of the individual is typically considered adequate consideration to make the contract enforceable. If another employer is aware of the agreement and intentionally seeks to interfere with its terms, it may be possible that that employer is liable for damages for intentional interference with a contract.
The Economic Espionage Act of 1996 (EEA) may apply. With the passage of EEA, trade secrets now enjoy protection under federal law as do inventions through patents, creative works through copyright, and unique names and symbols through trademark legislation. In addition, 39 U.S. laws also define trade secrets in various ways and define the conditions under which theft has taken place. Based on such laws a significant body of case law covers proprietary information and trade secrets. This legal framework recognizes a company's right to have proprietary information and provides the company with remedies when its trade secrets have been misused or illegally appropriated.
Other charges ,may apply, such as intentional interference with contract or unfair competition. We suggest you contact a local attorney who can review all the facts and documents involved.
