Question

THE SUBJECT IS BUSINESS LAW

You are a summer intern at Popeyes. On your last day of work, you decide to download the secret recipe for the fried chicken to a USB drive and email it to your personal email address. Your intent is to use the secret recipe to make some fried chicken for your Labor Day cookout.

1. What type of crime did you commit?

2. Which law did you violate?

3. What penalties do you face?

4. What remedies are available to Popeyes?

5. Cite the full name of the applicable federal law.

Answer 1

The crime committed in this case is intellectual theft. This is a theft committed by a person deliberately by using, stealing or taking a property protected under laws of intellectual property. The law violated, in this case, is the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA). Under the law “information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process that derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use and is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy.”

The penalties can be any of the following depending on the company suing against the person committing the crime. The charges of theft of intellectual property are fines, imprisonment, civil charges for the loss caused due to the theft, seizing the intellection property that is stolen. The trade secret theft is punishable with a fine up to $250,000 and imprisonment of 10 years. Popeyes can sue under the criminal law and charge a fine or demand imprisonment from the court for intellectual theft.