Leo Silfen, Inc. v. Cream

Cream (defendant) built up an industrial-supply customer base over nearly 20 years working for Silfen (plaintiff), which maintained detailed, confidentiality-protected customer profiles; after Silfen fired Cream, he started his own company and solicited 47 of Silfen's roughly 1,100 listed customers, all well-known companies openly engaged in the industrial-supply business. Silfen sued for trade-secret misappropriation, and the trial court found the customer list protectable and enjoined Cream from doing business with those customers.