| With the recent explosion of technology, and the rise and perhaps fall of the “DotCom†era, there has been increasing concern for the protection of trade secrets. Out ofthis concern emerged the doctrine of inevitable disclosure, a new means forbusinesses to protect their trade secrets. This judicially crafted doctrine prevents adeparting employee with knowledge of secret company information from findingsimilar employment elsewhere, under the theory that such employment would“inevitably†lead to the disclosure of his former employer’s trade secrets. This articleexplores the characterizations of inevitable disclosure and their viability, while alsoexamining the various other forms that the doctrine has assumed as a potentiallyeffective means for employers to protect their trade secrets. This paper reviews theorigin and history of the inevitable disclosure doctrine to show that courts haveapproved this theory in principle for over a century, with the notable exception ofsome recent decisions interpreting New York, California and Florida law. After givingan outline of the development of trade secret law, this article discusses how theinevitable disclosure doctrine fits into the scheme of trade secret protection. Becauseour legal system and non-competition provisions seem to be too loose, mostlyconcentrating in restricting employees during working period and ignoringpost-employment issues. Therefore, the introduction of the doctrine of inevitable disclosure is conducive to better improve our non-competition regime. In today’shighly competitive society, trade secrets play a pivotal role in the battlefield. And itscharacteristics determine that once lost forever lost. Therefore how to better protecttrade secrets has become an important issue. Finally, this article puts forward anumber of recommendations, including the establishment of legislative basis, the limitof shrink application, setting the duration and scope of the injunction and workerscompensation and so on. |
PDF Full Text Request