Schalk v. State
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
823 S.W.2d 633 (1991)
- Written by Kelli Lanski, JD
Facts
Thomas Schalk and Robert Leonard (defendants) worked for Texas Instruments (TI). As a condition of their employment, they signed several employment and confidentiality agreements, agreeing to protect the company’s trade secrets. TI further protected its confidential trade secrets by using security measures at its plants, like staffing them with security guards, permitting entry only to those individuals who possessed security badges, and monitoring the plants with security cameras. TI also restricted access to its computer software to employees who needed it. Schalk and Leonard resigned from TI and took jobs with Voice Control Systems, a competitor. Before leaving TI, they both downloaded the entire contents of the computer directories assigned to them. After an investigation, Schalk and Leonard were charged and convicted of theft of TI’s trade secrets. They appealed, arguing that TI disclosed some information about its computer systems to government agencies and discussed them in its research labs, destroying any trade-secret protection.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Miller, J.)
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