Yellowfin Yachts v. Barker Boatworks
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
898 F.3d 1279 (2018)

- Written by Rich Walter, JD
Facts
A unique, proprietary hull design made fishing boats manufactured by Yellowfin Yachts, Inc. (Yellowfin) (plaintiff) popular with high-end customers. When Yellowfin recruited Kevin Barker (defendant) for a top sales position, the company gave him a nondisclosure agreement, which Barker either refused or neglected to sign. Yellowfin hired Barker anyway. Barker was among the 5 percent of Yellowfin’s employees who had access to the company’s password-secured customer information. Although much of this information was publicly available, Yellowfin’s distilled compilation of the information arguably gave the information value as a trade secret. Nevertheless, Yellowfin did not mark the information as confidential. Yellowfin encouraged Barker to keep the information on his laptop and cellphone but did not require Barker to secure that information. When Barker quit his position, Yellowfin made no effort to ensure that Barker return or delete the information on his personal devices. Barker recreated Yellowfin’s hull design from memory, poached the Yellowfin customer information on his devices, and set up a rival boat-building company. Yellowfin sued Barker and his company for trade-secret misappropriation under Florida’s version of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA). The federal district court entered summary judgment for Barker, and Yellowfin appealed to the Eleventh Circuit.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Tjoflat, J.)
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