inevitable disclosure doctrine
inevitable-disclosure doctrine. Trade secrets. The legal theory that a key employee, once hired by a competitor, cannot avoid misappropriating the former employer’s trade secrets. • To justify an injunction, the plaintiff must prove that the former employee has confidential information and will not be able to avoid using that knowledge to unfairly compete against the plaintiff. Most courts have rejected the controversial doctrine on grounds that it effectively turns a nondisclosure agreement into a disfavored noncompetition agreement. The leading case upholding the doctrine is PepsiCo, Inc. v. Redmond, 54 F.3d 1262 (7th Cir. 1995), where the court quipped: “PepsiCo finds itself in the position of a coach, one of whose players has left, playbook in hand, to join the opposing team before the big game.” — Also termed inevitable disclosure rule; inevitability doctrine; inevitable-misappropriation doctrine.
