Appendix D Restatement (Third) of Unfair Competition §§ 39-45 (1995)

• Pages: 229-232

APPENDIX D

Restatement (Third) of

Unfair Competition

Restatement, Third, Unfair Competition, copyright © 1995 by The

American Law Institute. Reproduced with permission. All rights

reserved.

§ 39. Definition of Trade Secret

A trade secret is any information that can be used in the operation

of a business or other enterprise and that is sufficiently valuable

and secret to afford an actual or potential economic advantage

over others.

§ 40. Appropriation of Trade Secrets

One is subject to liability for the appropriation of another’s trade

secret if:

(a) the actor acquires by means that are improper under the

rule stated in § 43 information that the actor knows or has

reason to know is the other’s trade secret; or

(b) the actor uses or discloses the other’s trade secret without

the other’s consent and, at the time of the use or disclosure,

(1) the actor knows or has reason to know that the infor-

mation is a trade secret that the actor acquired under

circumstances creating a duty of confidence owed by

the actor to the other under the rule stated in § 41; or

(2) the actor knows or has reason to know that the infor-

mation is a trade secret that the actor acquired by

means that are improper under the rule stated in § 43;

or

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