J. Crew Sues Former Designer for Alleged Trade Secrets Violation

In a recent case in New York, J. Crew Group, Inc. sued one of its former designers, Dwight Fenton, for breaching its duty of confidentiality, unfair competition and misappropriation, alleging that, when he left the company to work for a direct competitor, he took with him trade secrets and other confidential business information for use at his new job.

J. Crew claims that, before leaving the company to join the competitor Bonobos, Fenton used the company’s e-mail address to send confidential and proprietary J. Crew documents to his personal email address, such as product design specifications and measurements; J. Crew’s 2013 production development calendar; contact information for J. Crew’s key manufacturing resources; and design inspirations.

According to J. Crew’s arguments in the lawsuit, because of his position as a high-level employee with the company, Fenton had enjoyed access to highly-valuable, confidential and proprietary information, which he had agreed to only use for his job duties, and to keep it confidential in the event he left the company. The company also holds it has very strict policies to protect its confidential information, which, for example, expressly prohibits employees from e-mailing confidential information to or from their personal e-mail accounts.

In the lawsuit, J. Crew is seeking compensatory and punitive damages along with a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction directing Fenton to return all of J. Crew’s proprietary information and barring him from using it or sharing it with anyone.

Managing and protecting confidential information is essential in any business. Given the high value of sensitive data, companies should be vigilant to create and enforce policies to protect their confidential documents and information. Arent Fox is continuing to monitor this case as well as other cases involving trade secrets and unfair competition.

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