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Author Topic: Panoramas & A Unhinged Ex-Client  (Read 814 times)

JoeKitchen

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Panoramas & A Unhinged Ex-Client
« on: March 22, 2023, 08:46:51 am »

To be brief, I may have to prove in court that creating two different panoramas, where the slides for each were captured at different times of the day utilizing a panorama style head without moving the tripod, so that they line up in order to produce a printed translight is a common enough practice to not be considered a trade secret. 

I, of course, do this all of the time with architectural photography, and weighing down the tripod so it does not move over the course of a few hours is a very common practice in the field.  Making the leap to doing the same thing with panoramas (of cityscapes) is not something I consider to be monumental, but a very obvious logical step. 

However, a former client of mine, who still owes me $9470 and whom I have since realized is on the unstable side, is trying to keep me from doing this for any other clients by claiming it is a trade secret.  He will need to do so in New York state, which makes it very hard to enforce such claims especially if the process is known outside of his work. 

If anyone has any advise on dealing with this or knows of any written/video tutorials on performing this, that would be a great help in proving this is not complex enough to be a trade secret. 

Thank you in advance. 
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BAB

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Re: Panoramas & A Unhinged Ex-Client
« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2023, 04:28:03 pm »

Trade secret is only considered as such if your competition doesn't know how to use it. Which is not the case in your situationWhich
New York courts have adopted the definition of trade secret from Section 757 of the Restatement of Torts: "A trade secret consists of a formula, process, device, or compilation which one uses in his business and which gives him an opportunity to obtain an advantage over competitors who do not know or use it." The Restatement of Torts explains further that a trade secret differs from other secret information in a business in that it is not simply information about single or ephemeral events, but rather a process or device for continuous use in the operation of the business. From a practical perspective, this definition of "trade secret" is similar to that discussed in Basics of a Trade Secret Claim. New York courts have adopted the definition of trade secret from Section 757 of the Restatement of Torts.

Under New York law, misappropriation consists of use or disclosure of a trade secret that was acquired through a relationship of trust (such as employment), or through fraud or other improper means, such as theft, bribery, or hacking. This definition appears to include publishing a trade secret while knowing that your source obtained it through improper means or in breach of a confidentiality agreement.

Remedies

If a court finds that a defendant has misappropriated a plaintiff's trade secret(s), it may impose the following penalties and remedies:

Injunctive Relief: A court may order a defendant to stop violating the plaintiff's rights and to take steps to preserve the secrecy of the plaintiff's information. Most importantly, this means that a court has the authority, as far as the law of trade secrets goes, to order you to stop publishing someone's trade secrets if it finds that your publication amounts to misappropriation. The First Amendment to the US Constitution may limit the court's ability to do so, however. For details, see Publishing Trade Secrets.
Damages: A court can make a defendant pay money damages to the plaintiff for the economic harm suffered as a result of a trade secret violation. This may include the plaintiff's losses resulting from the misappropriation and the defendant's profits derived from it. Punitive damages are available in exceptional circumstances.
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JoeKitchen

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Re: Panoramas & A Unhinged Ex-Client
« Reply #3 on: April 03, 2023, 01:44:36 pm »

Thanks for the detailed response!

I must say this whole experience has become quite the positive lesson learning experience.  Although I did not like shelling out a couple grand to an attorney, I have learned that, (a) people need to come to you to sue you, so any threat otherwise can be laughed at, (b) because of this, unless their attorney is licensed in your state, the lawsuit will probably not go anywhere since they will need to hire a 2nd set of attorneys, (c) you can not be sued for your retirement or any property you own with your spouse, (d) NDA's are not enforceable for any publicly know information, (e) as soon as your counsel informs the other side that you have counsel any attempt to directly contact you is now harassment, and (f) the great peace of mind that comes with knowing all contact will now be screened first by your attorney with most of the BS removed and/or identified as such. 
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