- within Compliance and Environment topic(s)
The taking and using of customer lists is no longer just a matter for civil proceedings and injunctive relief. On Monday, November 26, 2007, the Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed a jury's criminal conviction of an individual who took and used her former employer's master client list to solicit customers, who used company computers to plan her new business venture, and otherwise misappropriated client files.
Defendant Shan DuCom was tried and convicted after it was discovered that she had attempted to wipe out her former employer (C&D)'s property management business completely by converting the property management function to her own, newly created entity. Indeed, DuCom conspired with other employees to start a new firm, used C&D's computers to create new "letterhead and logos, press releases, solicitation postcards, and various 'to-do' lists," as well as to engage in "massive" copying of information maintained on C&D's computer hard drives to discs. Her actions were apparently so wanton that the day after she left, the former employers' team came to work and found the office had "been left barren, 'cleaned out.' The computer server was turned off, the hard copies of client files were missing, the fax and credit card phone lines had been sabotaged, and office supplies and equipment were missing." Once the computer service was restored, C&D found that entire databases were missing and that the C&D website had been transferred to DuCom's new firm. Three of DuCom's co-workers resigned and joined her new firm as well. Georgia's Uniform Trade Secrets Act specifically protects client and customer lists as trade secrets, provided they
- Derives economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by, other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use; and
- Is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy.
O.C.G.A. § 16-8-13(a)-(b). The appellate court remarked, in particular, that as a new business, DuCom's new firm "would have opened its doors with little or no property to manage, and with no property to manage, it would have very little income," reflecting that her head-start approach runs afoul of the law. Noting the damage that she caused by her acts in stealing the client list, the court affirmed the lower court's award of restitution based on valuation of C&D's "book of business."
DuCom also was convicted of "computer theft" under O.C.G.A. § 16-9-93(a) for using C&D's computers without authorization. The appeals court reflected that she had downloaded data she was not permitted to use and that the jury could have found "beyond a reasonable doubt that DuCom used a computer, owned by her employer, with knowledge that such use was without authority and with the intention of removing programs or data from that computer and appropriating them for her own use." Under Georgia law, unauthorized use includes "the use of a computer or computer network in a manner that exceeds any right or permission granted by the owner of the computer or computer network" O.C.G.A. 16-9-92(18). With a broad definition and unassailable facts, the appellate court did not waste much time in discussing its reasoning to affirm.
Although it is not unusual to hear tales of such wanton conduct in preparing to compete in a new business, it is not very often that we hear of criminal prosecutions of such matters at the state level in Georgia. We'll be keeping our eyes and ears open for any further such cases.
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