Court Opinion

ID: 9446245
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 21:49:59.540362+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:30:34.853277
License: Public Domain

PER CURIAM.
A petition for rehearing has been filed by Sears, Roebuck and Company. Its principal argument is that our opinion is in conflict with the decision of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in Pressed Steel Car Co. v. Standard Steel Car Co., 1904, 210 Pa. 464, 60 A. 4. The petitioner makes the unwarranted assumption that this court has not considered that decision. To the contrary, the case was given full consideration by the court and was found to be completely inapposite to the present appeal. The defendant in the Pressed Steel case was enjoined from using plaintiff’s blueprints because the prints were delivered for the limited purpose of assisting customers to order certain goods from the plaintiff, and for no other purpose. Furthermore, the plaintiff required the customers to sign receipts for the blueprints, indicating, as both the lower court and Supreme Court found, that they were delivered for a restricted purpose, and thus were trade secrets. The facts there were sufficient to imply an agreement on the part of defendants to keep the information secret.
In the case before us, however, the district court found that the warranty cards were delivered by plaintiff without any restrictions as to their use. Plaintiff knew that defendant had a legitimate business interest in the information on the warranty cards. Quite plainly here there was no implied agreement to keep the information secret.
The petition for rehearing will be denied.