Carolina Chemical Equipment Company (CCEC), a company involved in sales of chemical and cleaning supplies, required its employees to sign a covenant not to divulge trade secrets. The covenant provided in part:
[Employee] agrees not to divulge any trade secrets of the Corporation. Trade secrets means any knowledge or information concerning any aspect of the business of the Corporation which could, if divulged to a direct or indirect competitor, adversely affect the business of the Corporation, its prospects or competitive position. Seller shall not use for his own benefit any trade secret of the Corporation in any manner whatsoever.
Muckenfuss signed the agreement when he was hired. He also signed a covenant not to compete for one year after leaving the company. After several years of employment, Muckenfuss left CCEC. He did not work in the chemical industry for over one year, but eventually he went to work for one of CCEC’s direct competitors, where he sold products to some of CCEC’s customers that were essentially the same products that CCEC sells. CCEC sued Muckenfuss for trade secret misappropriation. Should CCEC win? Why, or why not?