Maryland company’s customer and pricing information are trade secrets, court rules

A Maryland company’s confidential consumer lists and pricing information are trade secrets and were misappropriated when a group of employees left their jobs for a rival company and brought many of their former clients with them to the new company, the Maryland Appellate Court held. In a reported opinion written by Judge Andrea M. Leahy and filed last month, the Maryland Appellate Court affirmed in part and vacated in part the judgment of the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court, finding that Cantwell-Cleary Co. could seek actual damages under its claims for misappropriation of trade secrets and that its former employees had misappropriated the company’s trade secrets.