Morton v. Rank America, Inc.
United States District Court for the Central District of California
812 F. Supp. 1062 (1993)

- Written by Rich Walter, JD
Facts
In the agreement that divided the Hard Rock Cafe chain’s American marketing rights between Peter Morton (plaintiff) and the predecessor-in-interest of Rank America, Inc. (Rank) (defendant), each party promised not to use the chain’s so-called café marks in any way that could interfere with the other party’s use of those marks. Rank went on to open the Planet Hollywood chain of restaurants, which employed an entertainment-based theme similar to the Hard Rock Cafe’s own theme. Morton sued in federal court, alleging that Rank misappropriated Hard Rock Cafe’s trade secrets. Rank responded that, because California’s version of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) defined misappropriation as the improper use of another party’s trade secret, Rank could not be held liable for misappropriating secrets that it co-owned with Morton.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Gadbois, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.