OK, so you took a few files and documents with you when you recently terminated employment with Company A, intending to use them in your new digs with Company B. They served you well and unquestionably increased your efficiency during your former employment tenure, so why shouldn’t that remain the case going forward in your new job?
Here’s a complicating scenario to much up that assessment. Say that Company A has a problem with your thinking. Your previous managers contend that you just absconded with valued trade secrets, and they’re not about to let you get away with that. In fact, they are preparing to take legal action against you.
In the real business world, a tale like the above is far from some remote and fictionalized account. Legions of workers across the United States can readily attest to the unreceptiveness of previous employers concerning the taking of virtually anything that is not flatly generic from their offices or files.
Which often leads to a give-and-take exchange. You say that spotlighted subject matter is just a widely used spreadsheet format that has no special intrinsic value to your ex-company. Your former employer puts a 180-degree spin on that, calling it a vitally important and closely protected trade secret.
Which is it?
That determination cannot always be made quickly and easily. And although things can sometimes be sorted through and resolved via negotiations outside a courtroom, disputes concerning alleged trade secrets sometimes end up being adversarial and litigated.
Workers with questions or concerns regarding trade secrets, exit-linked contractual limitations or any other job-linked concerns can contact a proven employment law legal team for candid counsel and, when necessary, diligent representation.