by Lee Gesmer | Feb 11, 2009 | Trade Secrets
Clients often ask what measures they need to take to protect their trade secrets, should it be necessary to enforce them in court and prove that they were treated as secrets.
Here’s how Kentucky Fried Chicken does it, according to an AP story published today:
The recipe lays out a mix of 11 herbs and spices that coat the chain’s Original Recipe chicken, including exact amounts for each ingredient. It is written in pencil and signed by Harland Sanders.
The iconic recipe is now protected by an array of high-tech security gadgets, including motion detectors and cameras that allow guards to monitor the vault around the clock.
Thick concrete blocks encapsulate the vault, situated near office cubicles, that is connected to a backup generator to keep the security system operating in times of power outages.
The recipe is such a tightly held secret that not even Eaton knows its full contents. Only two company executives at any time have access to the recipe. KFC won’t release their names or titles, and it uses multiple suppliers who produce and blend the ingredients but know only a part of the entire contents.
“We’ve very comfortable with the security,” [KFC President Roger Eaton ]said. “I don’t think anyone can break into it.”
Hmmmm …. perhaps a real-life George Clooney will be interested. Of course, we don’t really know what’s in that vault, do we?
by Lee Gesmer | Feb 5, 2009 | Miscellaneous
If you’re fascinated with India, as I am, there’s an interesting series of articles described as an “innovation tour,” of India by Vinit Nijhawan, Executive-in-Residence in the Boston University School of Management. In a series of “dispatches” Nijhawan “takes readers on a journey, from New Delhi’s teeming cell phone (and cell phone unlocking) marketplace to Chandigarh, home to a great engineering college and a nascent life sciences industry forming . . . around agricultural products”, to quote from Xconomy.
An introduction and links to the installments (five so far), can be accessed here.
by Lee Gesmer | Feb 2, 2009 | Noncompete Agreements
You’ve got to wonder what Steelcraft was thinking when it decided to file a lawsuit against its former employee, James Hensel.
It’s hard enough to enforce a written noncompete agreement, much less an oral agreement, but that’s what Steelcraft tried to do in this case. The absence of a written agreement didn’t deter Steelcraft, which sought a preliminary injunction against Hensel. Steelcraft was able to allege nothing more than an “oral” noncompete agreement. One of several requirements for enforceability of a noncompete agreement is that it be reasonable in duration and geographic scope, and even though Steelcraft alleged an oral agreement, it said nothing about that element, rendering the agreement unenforceable in the eyes of Worcester County Superior Court Judge Richard T. Tucker.
Steelcraft also alleged that Hensel had taken Steelcraft trade secrets (the decision doesn’t discuss precisely what these were), but once again its argument was rejected on the grounds that it had failed to establish that it had properly protected the alleged secrets. For good measure, the judge noted that Steelcraft had failed to enter into a confidentiality agreement with the former employee.
There’s a bit more to this case (favorable to Hensel, harmful to Steelcraft), but the point is made: if you fail even to get a written noncompete agreement from your employee, don’t expect that you’ll be able to stop him from competing based on an oral agreement. “He said – She said” just doesn’t work here.
To read the full decision in Steelcraft v. Mobi Medical click here.
