The Sound of Inevitability: The Doctrine of Inevitable Disclosure of Trade Secrets Comes to Texas

It happens all the time. A promising new employee joins a company, eager to beginand do well.  The company trains the employee on its own unique procedures, teaches him the tricks of the trade, and shares sensitive client and product information. Eventually, the employee leaves.   Without a confidentiality agreement or covenant-not-to-compete, the question becomes to what extent are the employer’s rights and information protected when compared to the employee’s right to seek employment involving the skills he has acquired? Enter the Doctrine of Inevitable Disclosure.

Where the employer fails to obtain a covenant-not-to-compete or confidentiality agreement from their employees, the employer has often been left without a remedy.  Because Texas trade secret law does not provide the sort of broad protection many companies desire for sensitive and/or proprietary information, employers have begun to look for other legal options.   It is out of this void that the Doctrine of Inevitable Disclosure (hereinafter the “Doctrine”) has arisen in a growing number of jurisdictions.  While the Doctrine has been alluded to in several Texas state and federal court cases, it is still unclear whether the majority of Texas courts are prepared to embrace it.