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Intellectual Property Keyed to Merges
E.I. DuPont deNemours & Co. v. Christopher
Facts
E.I. duPont deNemours & Co. (Plaintiff) had developed a highly secret but unpatented process for producing methanol, which gave Plaintiff a competitive advantage over other producers. Plaintiff claimed that this process was a trade secret developed after much expensive and time-consuming research, one that Plaintiff had taken special precautions to safeguard. When the Christophers (Defendant) intentionally flew over duPont (Plaintiff), they took aerial pictures of new construction at one of Plaintiff’s plants, and they then sold them to undisclosed third parties. Plaintiff sued for damages and injunction and succeeded. Defendant appealed arguing that without a trespass or other illegal conduct, or breach of a confidential relationship, appropriation of a trade secret is not wrongful.
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