QSRSoft v. Restaurant Technology

84 U.S.P.Q.2d 1297 (2006)

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QSRSoft v. Restaurant Technology

United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
84 U.S.P.Q.2d 1297 (2006)

RW

Facts

QSRSoft, Inc. (plaintiff) and Restaurant Technology, Inc. (RTI) (defendant) were rival software developers. As back-office vendors for McDonald’s Corporation, both companies had access to the real-time data that McDonald’s collected from each of its franchised fast-food stores. QSRSoft devised a software tool that could quickly analyze a store’s data and report results to the store’s franchisee. QSRSoft showed brief samples of this password-protected, analytical tool to prospective customers and competitors at trade shows, but the company’s policy was not to provide full access to the tool until a prospective customer or competitor signed a licensing agreement. At RTI’s behind-the-scenes instigation, a franchisee known as FAF told QSRSoft it wanted to analyze the tool’s software and requested a trial subscription. QSRSoft agreed and sent FAF a licensing agreement. Without waiting to receive FAF’s signed agreement, QSRSoft mailed FAF a password that unlocked the tool. FAF shared this password with RTI, which used it to access the tool’s software. RTI subsequently released a similar product. Suspecting that RTI had misappropriated the tool’s software, QSRSoft sued RTI in federal court for violating Illinois’s version of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA). QSRSoft moved for a preliminary injunction, which RTI countered by arguing that QSRSoft took inadequate measures to protect its tool as a trade secret.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Der-Yeghiayan, J.)

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