Memo

MEMORANDUM

To: Supervisor

From: TYW

Date: March 22, 2012

Re: Aroma Coffee Shop; Client No. 99-9999; misappropriation of trade secret

ISSUE

Under Pennsylvania law, did Melody Smith, Aroma Coffee Shop's former employee, misappropriate the trade secret of Aroma Coffee Shop because she changed the handle and password of Aroma Coffee Shop's twitter account for her own coffee shop?

BRIEF ANSWER

Yes. A court would probably hold that Ms. Smith misappropriated the trade secret of Aroma Coffee Shop because (1) the information of Aroma Coffee Shop's twitter account was trade secret; (2) the way Ms. Smith used the information was improper, and it was in breach of the confidential relationship between her and Aroma Coffee Shop.

FACTS

Our firm's client, Ms. Sarah McIntyre has owned Aroma Coffee Shop for a long time. Because she was too busy to boost sales by using social media, she accepted her employee Ms. Smith's suggestion to hire Ms. Smith to be in charge of social media responsibilities for Aroma Coffee Shop.

After Ms. McIntyre and Ms. Smith revised the employment contract, Ms. Smith got higher salary corresponding to the social media responsibilities. Ms. Smith created a twitter account for Aroma Coffee Shop. Knowing Ms. McIntyre's concern about the security of the account, Ms. Smith promised not to share the information of the account with anyone. In Ms. Smith's charge, Aroma Coffee Shop's twitter account grew rapidly and reached 500 followers within half a year. The notability and business of Aroma Coffee Shop were also growing due to its twitter account.

Nevertheless, Ms. Smith later decided to operate her own coffee shop. Thus, she changed the handle and password of Aroma Coffee Shop's twitter account. After doing so, Ms. Smith began to promote to the account's followers, which originally belonged to Aroma Coffee Shop.

DISCUSSION

Under Pennsylvania law, a court probably would hold Ms. Smith's behavior misappropriation of trade...