New Ninth Circuit Case Acknowledges Trade Secrets Exception to Business and Professions Code Section 16600

A new Ninth Circuit case, Asset Marketing Systems, Inc. v. Gagnon, 2008 WL 4138181 (Sept. 9, 2008), acknowledges (at least in dicta) that there is a trade secrets exception to Business and Professions Code Section 16600.

In the case, Gagnon, an independent contractor who developed computer programs for AMS, a field marketing organization, alleged, among other things that AMS had misappropriated his trade secrets that were contained in the programs’ source code.

The Ninth Circuit rejected Gagnon’s claims that AMS misappropriated his trade secrets.  The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s determination that Gagnon had granted AMS an implied, unlimited license to retain, use, and modify the software, thus destroying any trade secret status the code might have had.

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