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

- Written by Rich Walter, JD
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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