Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: corporate information protection

It may or may not be a crime, but you may have just bought yourself a termination from employment and potentially a lawsuit. Whether your employer "knowingly gave" you access to the information you don't have the right to use that information for your own purposes, particularly if you have signed any type of confidentiality or non-compete agreement.

Re: corporate information protection

Your actions appear to constitute a violation of the Trade Secrets Act.

You face termination, for cause which could support a denial of unemployment insurance benefits, and potential liability for your violation.

You friend faces potential liability for violation of the trade secrets act as well, and could be subject to injunctive relief as well as monetary damages.

I do not know whether or not your actions constitute a crime, however, I would not be surprised if they did.

Re: corporate information protection

You have some issues that my be a problem. The customer lists may be called a "trade secret" and you also may be sued under the uniform trade secret act or Business and Professions code section 17200 for unfair competition. You and your friend should NOT use this list. You do not go to jail, but you can be sued in civil court for lots of money. Not a good idea to use this list.

Re: corporate information protection

Hope you like spending attorney fees, because you're going to get your butt sued big time, fired for cause, and denied unemployment. Feel free to contact me when it happens, for defense that you're really going to need done effectively.

Re: corporate information protection

Why didn't you ask this question before distributing the information? Can you take it back? Is the friend good enough to keep his word not to use the list AND indemnify you against any accusations? You need damage control, my friend! As for "using the information yourself", there are times/ways that certain information can be used because the law does not allow a former employer to "mortgage the brain" but taking a printed list is almost never the way to go about this, particularly if the employer has indicated that the list is not public knowledge and is considered to be its proprietary information.

Re: corporate information protection

Your question has produced an unusually large number of answers, and I don't disagree with any of them.

The law that was violated here is the California enactment of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, Civil Code sections 3426 through 3426.11. The violation is known as "misappropriation of trade secrets," and it is a civil wrong for which the victim's remedies include compensatory damages, punitive damages and injunction.

Misappropriation of trade secrets can also be a crime as well as a civil wrong, but most district attorneys will not bring criminal charges in any but the most high-profile cases because they are too busy with violent crimes. Nevertheless, there is some risk of criminal prosecution.

A company's trade secrets are property just as much as its lathes and punch presses, and if someone discloses a trade secret and renders it less valuable, that is just as much theft as is taking tools from the tool crib or money from the cash box (at least under the modern view of theft).

Both you and your friend are liable for damages.

Access to secrets obviously does not translate into a right to misappropriate them, any more than being given the day's receipts to take to the bank authorizes the messenger to spend half of them enroute.