SMASH FRANCHISE PARTNERS, LLC, and SMASH MY TRASH, LLC, Plaintiffs, v. KANDA HOLDINGS, INC., TODD PERRI, KEVIN MCLAREN, and DUMPSTER DEVIL, LLC, Defendants., 2020 Del. Ch. LEXIS 263

Summary

HOLDINGS: [1]-The record did not support a business-stopping injunction, as all of the information that defendants received was publicly available, freely shared by plaintiffs' franchisees, or provided by plaintiffs without taking adequate precautions to protect its confidentiality; [2]-Plaintiffs failed to establish a reasonable likelihood of success on the merits of its claim for breach of a a non-disclosure agreement (NDA); it appeared that the information received from plaintiffs was either publicly available or not confidential information within the meaning of the NDA; [3]-Plaintiffs had not offered persuasive evidence of an independent economic advantage emanating from its plan's secrecy; as such, they had not established a reasonable likelihood of success that they had a protectable trade secret in the form of a plan to partner with local waste management companies.