3rd Circuit Weighs ‘Nooks and Crannies’ and Trade Secrets Disclosure
Only seven executives know all three parts of the recipe for Thomas’ English Muffins and their distinctive “nooks and crannies.”
One of those executives, former senior vice president Chris Botticella, wants to take a new job with a competitor, Hostess Brands Inc. A federal appeals court based in Philadelphia is weighing whether the company that makes the muffins, Bimbo Bakeries USA, is entitled to an injunction barring Botticella from taking the new position, according to stories in the Associated Press and the Legal Intelligencer.
The Intelligencer calls the dispute “one of the most important intellectual property cases on the 3rd Circuit’s docket.” At issue is the required showing that must be made by a company under the doctrine governing “inevitable disclosure” of trade secrets that will entitle it to an injunction barring an employee from taking a new job.
In February, a federal judge enjoined Botticella from taking the job because it was substantially likely, if not inevitable, that he will reveal his knowledge of trade secrets, including the muffin recipe, the Legal Intelligencer previously reported. The judge, R. Barclay Surrick, found that Botticella kept working for Bimbo even after he accepted the Hostess job, attending high-level meetings and accessing sensitive documents.
Botticella says he stayed at Bimbo so he could get his 2009 bonus, and asserts that a confidentiality agreement he signed was valid only during his employment, the AP story says. His lawyers argue that Surrick applied the inevitable disclosure doctrine too broadly, according to the Intelligencer. They contend the doctrine bars new employment only if it would be “virtually impossible” to perform the new job without disclosing the trade secrets.
