"The Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine in Illinois: Is it an Inevitable Mi" by Juliet Ruth Otten

Home > RIPL > Vol. 2 > Iss. 2 (2003)

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Article Title

The Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine in Illinois: Is it an Inevitable Mistake?, 2 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 379 (2003)

Authors

Juliet Ruth Otten

Abstract

In several recent decisions, Illinois courts have established that an ex-employee may be restrained from using information from their former employer, that will be "inevitably disclosed", even when no non-competition agreement existed between the employee and the employer. The use of this"inevitable disclosure" doctrine allows Illinois courts to create quasi non-competition agreements even where there has been no actual or threatened misappropriation of an employer's information. This comment proposes that Illinois courts should apply the inevitable disclosure doctrine only when several limiting factors are met and, instead, should encourage employers to use reasonable confidentiality agreements so that neither the employer's nor the ex-employee's rights are infringed.

Recommended Citation

Juliet R. Otten, The Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine in Illinois: Is it an Inevitable Mistake?, 2 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 379 (2003)

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