4 ms·

prices aren't a trade secret and difficult to enforce even if its covered under an NDA

by spxneo 3y ago

passwordoops 3y ago
"prices aren't a trade secret" Is there a basis for this in recent case law? And how difficult would it be to enforce against a 3rd party actively publishing pricing, and therefore competitive, strategy? Nope I'm not staying they should shut down or they will get sued, but they should do the sensible thing and talk to a good lawyer
- spxneo 3y ago
  there hasn't been any caselaw from my knowledge where they went after a customer for revealing the price of a software license prices wouldn't be enforceable because knowing how much you charge isn't revealing anything proprietary (because you have to tell your customers in order to get them to make a decision). Also not exactly possible to expect confidentiality around prices because your banks and their staff will see it..
  - passwordoops 3y ago
    Just to be clear, we both agree we're not lawyers But I can argue that pricing is part of my strategy and revealing pricing information in cases where I explicitly forbade it is potentially damaging because it allows a competitor to undercut me. I'd be surprised if they do go after a client, but my concern for these guys is they are not a client. They are an aggregator of this information. If any of these quotes were given with the caveat that pricing should not be shared, then a named company who's on the pricier side might have a good leg to stand on arguing this site damaged their business with what amounts to a trade secret (pricing strategy). At three very least or could result in a letter and headaches. Asking for who gave the information is something I would totally see too, especially if this was a client who jumped ship, if anything else just as a scare tactic/revenge
    - airstrike 3y ago
      also not a lawyer, but unless your contract includes specific confidentiality around the price, I don't think disclosing it is an issue. it will be very, very hard to argue it's a trade secret because it is not, in fact, a secret
    - thayne 3y ago
      > it allows a competitor to undercut me So, allows them to compete with you... IANAL, and don't know how the law actually applies to this, but prohibiting customers or potential customers from disclosing price information clearly seems anti-competitive to me. And in some ways it is even worse than giving you an advantage for you over your competitors, if all your competitors also keep pricing a trade secret. In that case it gives you and your "competitors" an advantage against the customer, because the customer can't effectively compare prices, at least without expending considerable effort, which can result in the customer paying more. Especially for smaller companies with less negotiating power.
    - johnathon023 3y ago
      [flagged]
  - e12e 3y ago
    > Also not exactly possible to expect confidentiality around prices because your banks and their staff will see it.. There's a big difference between seeing data in the course of your job, and being legally able to share it!
    - CPLX 3y ago
      By default you’re legally able to share it. It’s your data, you’re telling someone how much you paid for something. Something can’t be a trade secret if it’s not a secret at all, and if you’re the seller, and the information is a description of something someone else did (ie how much the buyer paid) then it’s not your secret to defend.
- sieabahlpark 3y ago
  [dead]
- makeitdouble 3y ago
  Not a lawyer either, but I think there is a more obvious angle to this: publicly traded companies can be audited, publish costs to investors, list their creditors and amount when going bankrupt, ask for tax rebates by declaring their expenses etc. In many circumstances their money flow needs to be transparent. Not being allowed to expose the buying price of a service would go against many of these procedures/obligations. We could look at it the same way disclosing one's salary can't be illegal: how do you then apply for a loan for instance ?
staticautomatic 3y ago
They totally can be. There's plenty of case law on it. Source: I'm a 3L about to graduate with an IP specialization and got an award for being the best student in my trade secret law class.
- spxneo 3y ago
  can you share some?
  - staticautomatic 3y ago
    Here's 4 from the first page of results on WestLaw: - Ahern Rentals, 59 F.4th 948 (2023) - Wilmington Star-News, 125 N.C. App. 174 (1997) - Ingram, 260 Md. App. 122 (2023) - Intertek Testing Servs., 443 F. Supp. 3d 303 (2020)
    - CPLX 3y ago
      The first one is obviously distinguishable. It’s an action against competitors. I’ll save myself the trouble of doing your research for you and ask if any of these involved a fact pattern where customers of a service sharing price info with each other is considered a trade secret. Here’s a hint: if I am the customer and I am describing something that I myself did, specifically the outcome of a business decision I made on how much to pay, that’s not someone else’s trade secret.
      - staticautomatic 3y ago
        A customer can misappropriate a vendor’s trade secret and price lists can be trade secrets. As a general matter these propositions easily fall within the relevant laws (UTSA, DTSA, NY common law) and there are plenty of cases around the country supporting that. If you have a different opinion, all I can say is that I believe you’d find out in court that you’re wrong.
        CPLX 3y ago

prices aren't a trade secret and difficult to enforce even if its covered under an NDA

by spxneo 3y ago

prices aren't a trade secret and difficult to enforce even if its covered under an NDA

"prices aren't a trade secret" Is there a basis for this in recent case law? And how difficult would it be to enforce against a 3rd party actively publishing pricing, and therefore competitive, strategy? Nope I'm not staying they should shut down or they will get sued, but they should do the sensible thing and talk to a good lawyer

spxneo 3y ago
there hasn't been any caselaw from my knowledge where they went after a customer for revealing the price of a software license prices wouldn't be enforceable because knowing how much you charge isn't revealing anything proprietary (because you have to tell your customers in order to get them to make a decision). Also not exactly possible to expect confidentiality around prices because your banks and their staff will see it..
- passwordoops 3y ago
  Just to be clear, we both agree we're not lawyers But I can argue that pricing is part of my strategy and revealing pricing information in cases where I explicitly forbade it is potentially damaging because it allows a competitor to undercut me. I'd be surprised if they do go after a client, but my concern for these guys is they are not a client. They are an aggregator of this information. If any of these quotes were given with the caveat that pricing should not be shared, then a named company who's on the pricier side might have a good leg to stand on arguing this site damaged their business with what amounts to a trade secret (pricing strategy). At three very least or could result in a letter and headaches. Asking for who gave the information is something I would totally see too, especially if this was a client who jumped ship, if anything else just as a scare tactic/revenge
  - airstrike 3y ago
    also not a lawyer, but unless your contract includes specific confidentiality around the price, I don't think disclosing it is an issue. it will be very, very hard to argue it's a trade secret because it is not, in fact, a secret
  - thayne 3y ago
    > it allows a competitor to undercut me So, allows them to compete with you... IANAL, and don't know how the law actually applies to this, but prohibiting customers or potential customers from disclosing price information clearly seems anti-competitive to me. And in some ways it is even worse than giving you an advantage for you over your competitors, if all your competitors also keep pricing a trade secret. In that case it gives you and your "competitors" an advantage against the customer, because the customer can't effectively compare prices, at least without expending considerable effort, which can result in the customer paying more. Especially for smaller companies with less negotiating power.
  - johnathon023 3y ago
    [flagged]
- e12e 3y ago
  > Also not exactly possible to expect confidentiality around prices because your banks and their staff will see it.. There's a big difference between seeing data in the course of your job, and being legally able to share it!
  - CPLX 3y ago
    By default you’re legally able to share it. It’s your data, you’re telling someone how much you paid for something. Something can’t be a trade secret if it’s not a secret at all, and if you’re the seller, and the information is a description of something someone else did (ie how much the buyer paid) then it’s not your secret to defend.
sieabahlpark 3y ago
[dead]
makeitdouble 3y ago
Not a lawyer either, but I think there is a more obvious angle to this: publicly traded companies can be audited, publish costs to investors, list their creditors and amount when going bankrupt, ask for tax rebates by declaring their expenses etc. In many circumstances their money flow needs to be transparent. Not being allowed to expose the buying price of a service would go against many of these procedures/obligations. We could look at it the same way disclosing one's salary can't be illegal: how do you then apply for a loan for instance ?

staticautomatic 3y ago

They totally can be. There's plenty of case law on it. Source: I'm a 3L about to graduate with an IP specialization and got an award for being the best student in my trade secret law class.

spxneo 3y ago
can you share some?
- staticautomatic 3y ago
  Here's 4 from the first page of results on WestLaw: - Ahern Rentals, 59 F.4th 948 (2023) - Wilmington Star-News, 125 N.C. App. 174 (1997) - Ingram, 260 Md. App. 122 (2023) - Intertek Testing Servs., 443 F. Supp. 3d 303 (2020)
  - CPLX 3y ago
    The first one is obviously distinguishable. It’s an action against competitors. I’ll save myself the trouble of doing your research for you and ask if any of these involved a fact pattern where customers of a service sharing price info with each other is considered a trade secret. Here’s a hint: if I am the customer and I am describing something that I myself did, specifically the outcome of a business decision I made on how much to pay, that’s not someone else’s trade secret.
    - staticautomatic 3y ago
      A customer can misappropriate a vendor’s trade secret and price lists can be trade secrets. As a general matter these propositions easily fall within the relevant laws (UTSA, DTSA, NY common law) and there are plenty of cases around the country supporting that. If you have a different opinion, all I can say is that I believe you’d find out in court that you’re wrong.
      - CPLX 3y ago