Opinion ID: 2145911
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Trade Secret

Text: Lemmon asks us to consider whether the customer list is afforded protection as a trade secret under common law. We have previously noted that a customer list can be a protected trade secret under certain conditions. See Basic Chems., 251 N.W.2d at 230. But we need not reach the issue of whether this particular list can be classified as a trade secret. There is no indication in the record that Hendrickson either appropriated the list for his own use or disclosed its contents to third-party competitors. Although it is undisputed that Hendrickson failed to return any customer lists in his possession upon termination of his employment, Lemmon offers no proof that Hendrickson retained a list to use to Do-Rite's disadvantage. Instead, Lemmon merely asserts, without support in the record, that Revenge used the list to solicit Do-Rite's customers two years after Hendrickson left. The trial court noted Hendrickson's credible testimony that he did not retain a copy of the list upon leaving and that he does not intend to solicit business from it. Although Revenge provides pest control services to seven of Do-Rite's former customers, there is no evidence that these clients were gained through misappropriation of Do-Rite's customer list. Rather, Hendrickson testified he remembered the names of some former customers and solicited from that recollection. He further testified that Revenge operates in a different locale than Do-Rite and therefore, from a geographical standpoint, there would be very little incentive to solicit Do-Rite's customers. We note the Second Restatement of Agency which sets forth the expectations of an agent after termination of employment, as it relates to competition and solicitation of former customers: Unless it is otherwise agreed, after the termination of the agency, the agent: (a) has no duty not to compete with the principal; (b) has a duty to the principal not to use or to disclose to third persons, on its own account or on account of others, in competition with the principal ... trade secrets, written lists of names, or other similar confidential matters given to him only for the principal's use or acquired by the agent in violation of duty. The agent is entitled to use general information concerning the method of business of the principal and the names of the customers retained in his memory, if not acquired in violation of his duty as an agent.... Restatement (Second) of Agency § 396 (1958) (emphasis added). There is no evidence that the attainment of seven of Do-Rite's customers was a product of anything else than Hendrickson's utilizing his recollection of those people who had a need for pest control. Lemmon provides no evidence that Revenge actually used or disclosed the customer list. This fact, coupled with the credible testimony that Revenge does not intend to solicit Do-Rite's former customers any further, convinces us that neither an injunction nor damages are warranted under common law. Thus, whether the customer list constitutes a trade secret and enjoys common law protection is not determinative in this case and need not be decided.