Macbeth-Evans Glass Co. v. Schnelbach

<p>Bill in equity, filed in the Superior Court on June 14, 1910, and afterwards amended, in which the plaintiff, a corporation engaged extensively in the business of manufacturing and selling leather welting used in the manufacture of shoes, and a successor of the Union Welting Company, sought to enjoin the defendant, who since 1897 continuously had been in the employ of the plaintiff and its predecessor, from disclosing or making use of trade secrets alleged to belong to the plaintiff, the plaintiff averring that the defendant had obtained knowledge thereof in the course and by reason of his confidential employment. There also was a prayer for an accounting from the defendant and a return of the whole or a part of the salary paid to him in the last year and a half of his employment, the plaintiff averring that during that period, while drawing full pay from the plaintiff, the defendant was giving a large part of his time, energy and attention to the construction and equipment of a rival manufactory of his own without the plaintiff’s knowledge or consent.</p> <p>The case was referred to James D. Colt, Esquire, as master. Upon the filing of the master’s report, the plaintiff moved that it be recommitted to the master for him to incorporate in the report further specified findings of fact. The motion was denied and the plaintiff appealed.</p> <p>An interlocutory decree confirming the report, and a final decree dismissing the bill then were entered by order of Hardy, J., and the plaintiff appealed.</p> <p>The facts are stated in the opinion.</p>

Torts—Elements of tortious interference with contract—Establishing lack of justification element in tort of tortious interference with contract—Factors in determining whether an actor has acted improperly in intentionally interfering with a contract or prospective contract of another—Establishment of privilege of fair competition will defeat claim of tortious interference with contract, when—Listings of names, addresses, or telephone numbers that have not been published or disseminated constitute trade secrets, when—Whether particular knowledge or process is a trade secret is a question of fact determined by trier of fact upon greater weight of the evidence.

<p>In Equity. Suit for unfair competition in trade.</p> <p>This is a suit by the Bissell Chilled Plow Works, an Indiana corporation, engaged in the business of selling plows and wood pulp of its own manufacture at South Bend, Ind., against the T. M. Bissell Plow Company, a Michigan corporation, engaged in the business of selling plows of its own manufacture at Eaton Rapids, Mich., and certain officers thereof. The relief sought is an injunction restraining defendants from using the proper name “Bissell” as part of the name of the defendant corporation, or upon the plows sold by it, and a recovery of damages for past use thereof in such connection. The question to be determined is whether the. facts shown by the evidence in the record are such as to entitle complainant to all or either part of this relief.</p> <p>Complainant was incorporated and organized January 11, 1881. Its name at first, and until June 2, 1891, was “The South Bend Pulp Company.” On that date it wás changed to “The Bissell Chilled Plow Works,” its present name, by the judgment of the circuit court of St. Joseph county, Ind., of which South Bend is the county seat, in proceedings had in pursuance of the statutes of Indiana, begun February 21, 1891. Its business has always been as before stated, but the principal part thereof for from some time before the change in name, if not always, has been the sale of plows, and, if it still continues to sell wood pulp, it is only to a small extent. These two departments of its business have always been kept separate and distinct. Before the change in corporate name, it had a trade-name for its plow department, to wit, “The Bissell Chilled Plow Works,” the same which so became its corporate name. This was the trade-name of that department before that change, from the very beginning. There was nothing done by it in connection therewith that was not done in that name. All correspondence, bill heads, letter heads, price lists, advertisements, and contracts in rela