In Bohnsack v. Varco, inventor Bohnsack discussed selling an invention to Varco for it produce but no agreement was reached. Bohnsack later claimed Varco stole the idea and filed for a patent on the idea. He sued Varco for theft of trade secret. The appeals court held that:
A) a jury could find that Varco knowingly misappropriated a trade secret so owed damages based on the value of the secret
B) a reasonable jury could not find that Varco knew that the ideas Bahnsack provided were considered trade secrets
C) even if Varco stole trade secrets, Bahnsack did not show there was any market value in his ideas, so there would be no damages
D) even if Varco stole trade secrets, the information Bahnsack provided had not been adequately protected so were in the public domain
E) none of the other choices are correct

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The appeals court held that a jury could find that Varco knowingly misappropriated a trade secret, so owed damages based on the value of the secret. This suggests that Bohnsack had a valid claim for theft of trade secret and that Varco may be held liable for damages.

In Bohnsack V