Syncsort v. Innovative Routines.pdf - Trade Secrets Institute

Labs. Inc. v. Lenox Labs., Inc., 120 F.Supp. 42, 54 (D.N.J.1954) (“the right to protection beginsand ends with the life of secrecy.”).The party who asserts the trade secret bears the burden of proving that the information isa secret and not a matter of general knowledge in the industry. Rohm & Haas, 689 F.2d at 431.New Jersey has adopted the definition of trade secret provided in the Restatement of Torts:A trade secret may consist of any, formula, pattern, device orcompilation of information which is used in one’s business andwhich gives him an opportunity to obtain an advantage overcompetitors who do not know or use it.Id. (quoting Restatement of Torts, § 757 comment b (1939)). The New Jersey SupremeCourt has noted six supplementary considerations given in the Restatement:(1) the extent to which the information is known outside thebusiness; (2) the extent to which it is known by employees andothers involved in the business; (3) the extent of measures taken bythe owner to guard secrecy of the information; (4) the value of theinformation to the business and to its competitors; (5) the amountof effort or money expended on developing the information; and(6) the ease of difficulty with which the information could beproperly acquired or duplicated by others.Ingersoll-Rand Co. v. Ciavatta, 110 N.J. 609, 637, 542 A.2d 879 (1988) (quoting Restatement ofTorts, § 757 comment b).In order to determine whether the “secrecy” of a trade secret has been maintained, theRestatement instructs:Matters of public knowledge or of general knowledge in anindustry cannot be appropriated by one as his secret. Matters whichare completely disclosed by the goods which one markets cannotbe his secret. Substantially, a trade secret is known only in theparticular business in which it is used. It is not requisite that onlythe proprietor of the business know it. He may, without losing hisprotection, communicate it to employees involved it its use. He22