Legal Question in Business Law in Texas

Re: Trade secrets

Yes. While it is helpful that the customer list is not protected by a non-compete, courts are more inclined to enjoin the use of the information if the information is more than simply names generally known to all persons in the company's business and resembles a list of confidential information. The case may be strengthen if the person soliciting former clients had occupied a position of trust and through it had access to customer information. The good news is that customer list by itself is one of the weakest trade secrets to enforce.

Re: Trade secrets

Absolutely. Client lists are generally considered as confidential as a matter of course, and going directly to them may well get you into a lawsuit.

However, if the clients are the only ones that would purchase your services, such that a "client list" is immediately obvious, then it tends to lack "trade secret" status; i.e. all petroleum refiners as buyers of catalysts.

Re: Trade secrets

Maybe - maybe not. It depends on a number of factors, such as the amount of security required to gain access to the client list, are these the only prople you'll be soliciting, the industry you're in, etc. Feel free to contact me if you'd like to discuss this further.