Also known as: proprietary informations · confidential information
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Information in which the owner holds a protectable interest. The category includes commercially sensitive data such as trade secrets, customer lists, pricing models, and operational methods that the owner takes reasonable measures to keep from public disclosure.
Parker Phillips left Prosperity Investments after handling a merger for Platinum Partners. When Parker joined Paragon Construction, the new firm placed him behind an ethical wall and barred him from any fee participation in the matter. The screening measures rebutted the presumption that Parker would share Platinum Partners' proprietary pricing data with his new colleagues.
Portia Price represented both spouses and their insurer in an uninsured-motorist claim. When the husband later sued the wife, the firm possessed proprietary settlement valuations obtained from each client. The court disqualified the firm because the shared proprietary information created non-waivable adversity.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Priya Prasad signed a franchise contract with Peak Performance. The agreement granted her access to the company's standardized operating manuals and customer-analytics tools. These materials constituted proprietary information that Peak Performance licensed only for the term of the franchise.
Paul Peterson, a financial printer, learned the identities of takeover targets while typesetting tender offers. He purchased shares before the announcements became public. The court held that Peterson's use of the targets' proprietary information violated his duty to the information's source.
Paula Pierce, a data vendor, sold physicians' prescribing histories to pharmaceutical marketers. Vermont barred the practice without physician consent. The statute treated the prescribing records as proprietary information whose commercial use the state could regulate.
Perry Pratt, Secretary of Commerce, directed federal agents to take possession of Youngstown Sheet & Tube's production ledgers. The records contained proprietary cost and capacity data. The Court held that the seizure exceeded executive authority absent congressional authorization.
Proprietary information is any data in which the owner holds a protectable interest. Trade secrets form a subset that meets the additional requirements of secrecy and economic value from not being generally known. Courts therefore protect proprietary information through contract or property doctrines even when the stricter trade-secret elements are absent.
Supporting sources
An agent or fiduciary who obtains proprietary information in the course of the relationship must account for any profits derived from its use or disclosure. The duty arises from the relationship itself and survives termination of the engagement.
Yes. When a party seeks production of another party's proprietary information, the court may issue a protective order limiting disclosure, requiring return or destruction of copies, or restricting use to the litigation only. The order preserves the information's confidential character while allowing necessary discovery.
No. A noncompetition covenant is enforceable only to the extent it is no broader than necessary to protect legitimate interests such as proprietary information. If the covenant sweeps beyond those interests, courts will refuse to enforce the excess restraint even though the underlying information remains protectable by other means.
…20 years and leases standardized restaurant facilities to them for the same term. In addition, franchisees acquire a variety of proprietary information concerning the "standards, specifications, procedures and methods for operating a Burger King Restaurant." Id. , at 52. They also receive market research and advertising assistance;…