Mettam Industries makes food products, including aerosol cans of whipped cream. The technology for making such a product has been well-known in the industry for many years, including knowledge of how to process the ingredients and how to fill the cans to produce a product that will dispense properly. After much experimentation, Mettam researchers discovered that by mixing the ingredients in a particular order, and then chilling them to a specific lower temperature and holding them there for a specified number of hours before attempting to fill the cans, the researchers could ensure that the whipped cream would maintain a more consistent, creamy texture, even several weeks after being opened, and even when stored at fluctuating refrigerator temperatures. The end result is a more consistent, tastier product for consumers. Interestingly, the chilling procedure is precisely the procedure followed in the food industry for making aerosol cheese food products.
e.g., is keeping process secret and releasing information to employees on a need-to-know basis).
The real question here is whether the information is in the public domain. The recipe for the whipped cream is well-known, and the technology for filling the cheese food can is also well-known. However, there is no evidence that the information about mixing the ingredients in a particular order is publicly known, and no evidence that others recognize that using the cheese food technology has an application in the whipped cream industry.
Even if all of the constituent elements of an alleged trade secret are publicly known, a new combination of those elements to produce a better result may be protected as a trade secret.
Mettam contemplated seeking a patent on the invention, but ultimately decided to treat the invention as a trade secret instead, thinking it could achieve longer intellectual property protection in that manner. Because the process involved several different steps at various points in the ingredient-mixing and ingredient-processing processes, Mettam found it fairly easy to segment the process and to devise a method to ensure that only top management had access to the entire process and that employees saw only the small part of the process in which they were directly involved.
Eleanor Bramhan, a researcher at Mettam, left Mettam's employ, and went to work for a competitor, Clayburne Co. With a few weeks after her start of employment at her new job, Clayburne Co. began producing a virtually identical product. Mettam has sued for Clayburne for misappropriation of a trade secret. Clayburne has defended by arguing correctly) that the recipe for aerosol-dispensed whipped cream and the technology for filling cheese food cans has been public knowledge within the food processing industry for many years. Clayburne therefore argues there was no trade secret here to misappropriate.
How should the court rule on this claim?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The Answer of Mettam Industries makes food products, including aerosol cans of whipped cream. The technology for making such a product has been well-known in the industry for many years, including knowledge of how to process the ingredients and how to fill the cans to produce a product that will dispense properly. After much experimentation, Mettam researchers discovered that by mixing the ingredients in a particular order, and then chilling them to a specific lower temperature and holding them there for a specified number of hours before attempting to fill the cans, the researchers could ensure that the whipped cream would maintain a more consistent, creamy texture, even several weeks after being opened, and even when stored at fluctuating refrigerator temperatures. The end result is a more consistent, tastier product for consumers. Interestingly, the chilling procedure is precisely the procedure followed in the food industry for making aerosol cheese food products.
e.g., is keeping process secret and releasing information to employees on a need-to-know basis).
The real question here is whether the information is in the public domain. The recipe for the whipped cream is well-known, and the technology for filling the cheese food can is also well-known. However, there is no evidence that the information about mixing the ingredients in a particular order is publicly known, and no evidence that others recognize that using the cheese food technology has an application in the whipped cream industry.
Even if all of the constituent elements of an alleged trade secret are publicly known, a new combination of those elements to produce a better result may be protected as a trade secret.
Mettam contemplated seeking a patent on the invention, but ultimately decided to treat the invention as a trade secret instead, thinking it could achieve longer intellectual property protection in that manner. Because the process involved several different steps at various points in the ingredient-mixing and ingredient-processing processes, Mettam found it fairly easy to segment the process and to devise a method to ensure that only top management had access to the entire process and that employees saw only the small part of the process in which they were directly involved.
Eleanor Bramhan, a researcher at Mettam, left Mettam's employ, and went to work for a competitor, Clayburne Co. With a few weeks after her start of employment at her new job, Clayburne Co. began producing a virtually identical product. Mettam has sued for Clayburne for misappropriation of a trade secret. Clayburne has defended by arguing correctly) that the recipe for aerosol-dispensed whipped cream and the technology for filling cheese food cans has been public knowledge within the food processing industry for many years. Clayburne therefore argues there was no trade secret here to misappropriate.
How should the court rule on this claim?

Mettam Industries Makes Food Products, Including Aerosol Cans of Whipped