Business Law - Trade secret intellectual property rights (Answer IRAC format ) C
ID: 349334 • Letter: B
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Business Law - Trade secret intellectual property rights (Answer IRAC format ) Case: Pollack v. Skinsmart Dermatology and Aesthetic Center P.C.[1] Facts: Dr. Andrew Pollack owned the Philadelphia Institute of Dermatology (PID), a dermatology practice. Drs. Toby Shawe and Samy Badawy worked for PID as independent contractors, receiving a certain percentage of the revenues from each patient they treated. Natalie Wilson was Dr. Pollack's medical assistant. Dr. Pollack tentatively agreed to sell the practice to Drs. Shawe and Badawy. Instead of buying his practice, the two doctors decided to start their own, which they called Skinsmart. They executed a lease for the Skinsmart office space, offered Ms. Wilson a job, and instructed PID staff members to make copies of their appointment books and printouts of the patient list. Then they abruptly resigned from PID. Ms. Wilson called patients to reschedule procedures at PID. The two doctors also called patients and sent out a mailing to patients and referring physicians to tell them about Skinsmart. Dr. Pollack filed suit, alleging that the two doctors had misappropriated trade secrets. Issue: Did Drs. Shawe and Badawy misappropriate trade secrets from PID? Holding: Judgment for Pollack. A patient list is a trade secret, worthy of protection. Pollack spent a great deal of time and money compiling and protecting his patient list. Question 2: Can a list of patients be a trade secret? (Answer IRAC format) Business Law - Trade secret intellectual property rights (Answer IRAC format ) Case: Pollack v. Skinsmart Dermatology and Aesthetic Center P.C.[1] Facts: Dr. Andrew Pollack owned the Philadelphia Institute of Dermatology (PID), a dermatology practice. Drs. Toby Shawe and Samy Badawy worked for PID as independent contractors, receiving a certain percentage of the revenues from each patient they treated. Natalie Wilson was Dr. Pollack's medical assistant. Dr. Pollack tentatively agreed to sell the practice to Drs. Shawe and Badawy. Instead of buying his practice, the two doctors decided to start their own, which they called Skinsmart. They executed a lease for the Skinsmart office space, offered Ms. Wilson a job, and instructed PID staff members to make copies of their appointment books and printouts of the patient list. Then they abruptly resigned from PID. Ms. Wilson called patients to reschedule procedures at PID. The two doctors also called patients and sent out a mailing to patients and referring physicians to tell them about Skinsmart. Dr. Pollack filed suit, alleging that the two doctors had misappropriated trade secrets. Issue: Did Drs. Shawe and Badawy misappropriate trade secrets from PID? Holding: Judgment for Pollack. A patient list is a trade secret, worthy of protection. Pollack spent a great deal of time and money compiling and protecting his patient list. Question 2: Can a list of patients be a trade secret? (Answer IRAC format) Business Law - Trade secret intellectual property rights (Answer IRAC format ) Case: Pollack v. Skinsmart Dermatology and Aesthetic Center P.C.[1] Facts: Dr. Andrew Pollack owned the Philadelphia Institute of Dermatology (PID), a dermatology practice. Drs. Toby Shawe and Samy Badawy worked for PID as independent contractors, receiving a certain percentage of the revenues from each patient they treated. Natalie Wilson was Dr. Pollack's medical assistant. Dr. Pollack tentatively agreed to sell the practice to Drs. Shawe and Badawy. Instead of buying his practice, the two doctors decided to start their own, which they called Skinsmart. They executed a lease for the Skinsmart office space, offered Ms. Wilson a job, and instructed PID staff members to make copies of their appointment books and printouts of the patient list. Then they abruptly resigned from PID. Ms. Wilson called patients to reschedule procedures at PID. The two doctors also called patients and sent out a mailing to patients and referring physicians to tell them about Skinsmart. Dr. Pollack filed suit, alleging that the two doctors had misappropriated trade secrets. Issue: Did Drs. Shawe and Badawy misappropriate trade secrets from PID? Holding: Judgment for Pollack. A patient list is a trade secret, worthy of protection. Pollack spent a great deal of time and money compiling and protecting his patient list. Question 2: Can a list of patients be a trade secret? (Answer IRAC format)Explanation / Answer
Issue: Did the two doctors misappropriate the trade secrets?
Rule: The patient lists are considered as trade secrets and cannot be used without the owner’s permission.
Analysis: Trade secrets are the valuable information that the owner has kept as secret and the information includes customer lists or patient lists. The patient list provides economic advantage for the owner Dr. Pollack. Though Dr. Pollack offered to sell the practice to the two doctors but they did not buy and made use of the patient information to make financial advantage through their own firm named Skinsmart. As the patient list is not accessible for people outside the organization and provide economic value for the firm, the patient lists can be a trade secret and deserve protection from unauthorized use.
Conclusion: As the patient lists comes under trade secret they cannot be used without Dr. Pollack’s permission. Hence the two doctors Dr. Toby Shawe and Samy Badawy, misappropriated the trade secrets by using it for their own firm Skinsmart without owner’s consent.
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