Delaware Chancery Court Decides Trade Secrets Not Protected in Zoom Call Due to Lack of Security Precautions

    On August 13, 2020, a judge in the Delaware Court of Chancery rejected the plaintiff’s request for an injunction in the matter of Smash Franchise Partners, LLC v. Kanda Holdings, Inc., and found that Smash was unlikely to succeed in proving its allegations of misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of a non-disclosure agreement against a prospective franchisee.

    In December 2019, Smash failed to utilize Zoom’s privacy and security features during a number of open Zoom meetings that discussed the waste management company’s “confidential and proprietary business strategies.” The court noted in its ruling against an injunction that this showed that the defendants failed to take reasonable steps to protect the trade secrets. After the Zoom calls in question, the prospective franchisee opened a business operating in direct competition with Smash.

    Read more at the National Law Review

    View a related article: Former Google Engineer Pleads Guilty to Theft of Self-Driving Car Technology Trade Secrets

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