Peterson Mach. Co. v. May

"Equity has no power to compel a man who changes employers to wipe clean the slate of his memory." Peerless Pattern Co. v. Pictorial Rev. Co., 147 AD 715, 717, 132 NYS 37 (NY App Div 1911).

Plaintiff, a manufacturer of heavy machinery, asserted that a previous employee, violated Oregon’s Uniform Trade Secrets Act when he began working for Defendants, one of Plaintiff’s largest competitors. Plaintiff appealed a grant of summary judgement in favor of Defendants. Plaintiff assigned error to the trial court’s decision to grant Defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing Plaintiff’s claims for misappropriating trade secrets. In response, Defendant argued that he did not divulge Plaintiff’s trade secrets, regardless of his awareness to them. In accordance with the Restatement, unless an express noncompete covenant existed, Defendant was entitled to solicit customers he had previously engaged with while working for Plaintiff. "Equity has no power to compel a man who changes employers to wipe clean the slate of his memory." Peerless Pattern Co. v. Pictorial Rev. Co., 147 AD 715, 717, 132 NYS 37 (NY App Div 1911). Accordingly, the Court determined that Defendants did not misappropriate trade secrets. Affirmed.