Developments in technology have led to advanced ways of
protecting trade secrets. In an age where passwords, metadata, and
paper trails are often the stories told to demonstrate
misappropriation, it may seem that trade secrets must be reduced to
a tangible form to be protected. However, a recent Oregon Court of
Appeals opinion reminds us that this is not the
case—if information is maintained as a trade secret it is
equally protected regardless of form.
The story in Pelican Bay Forest Products, Inc. v.
Western Timber Products, Inc. may appear at first blush a
fairly common one in the trade secret world: a Pelican Bay employee
provided customer list information to his son-in-law who worked for
a competitor, Western Timber. Customer lists have been
their own hot topic in trade secret law, but it has become
generally accepted that they can provide companies with
considerable value; and if their value is derived through keeping
this information secret, customers lists
