Johnson Buck, the legendary and innovative CEO behind the Samlings supermarket chain, has pioneered a data-driven approach for deciding where to build his stores. Early in his career, Buck realized that his best performing stores had certain common features - not obvious ones like population density or amount of competition but subtle features not clearly connected to traditional metrics of success in the grocery marketplace. For example, successful stores were no more than mile from a freeway exit, no more than 4 minutes from the nearest public school and no more than 6 minutes to the nearest gas station & etc. At first, this insight was more art than science, but over the years - investing millions in data gathering - he refined it into a massive database that powers the "JB Index."

Samlings' internal documents describe the Index as "the crown jewel" of the Samlings Empire. Samlings uses the Index to choose where to place branches in new locations. Superior branch placement decisions - together with fine ingredients, excellent customer service and competitive pricing - have enabled Samlings to earn profits well above the industry average. The actual algorithm behind the Index is disclosed only to the board and top executive team of Samlings, all of whom sign confidentiality agreements. The Index itself, as well as the database on which it relies, is encrypted, marked as "Highly Confidential" and kept on a password-protected computer in a room guarded by security personnel.

Lester Lawrence, a hot-shot freelance coder and programmer, was being recruited by Samlings for a top executive position. Lawrence was interested in the interview but reacted negatively when he was told he would be asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement. "Is this something that will restrict my ability to work with other supermarket companies in the future?" Lawrence asked. "No," said the Vice President in charge of his recruitment, "It simply covers things proprietary to Samlings, like how we use data to place our stores, for example." Lawrence, a deep believer in "open data," declined to sign the agreement and did not complete the interview process. Going home, he fired up his laptop, pulled up Google Maps' "Satellite View" and in half an hour wrote a simple multiple regression program that would scan Google Maps looking for commonalities in the placement of Samlings stores. Google Maps makes the location of businesses publicly available - a service Samlings is delighted to have, since it sends more customers their way. Lawrence's program looked for statistically significant "clusters" on those maps. When a common feature on the map was found for three or four stores - proximity to a swimming pool, a fire station, or a school, for example - the program automatically checked to see if those features explained the placement of a wider number of stores. Lawrence set the program to run and went to dinner. By the time he got home, the program had identified the common features of every Samlings supermarket - Lawrence's program had successfully distilled the JB Index.

Lawrence quickly emailed the CEO of Final Frontier Stores - a pricy competitor to Samlings - and offered to sell "the results of a program I've run, analyzing the common features of the legendarily successful Samlings stores." Melonie Husk, the CEO of Final Frontier, had long been jealous of Samlings' success and was eager to find a competitive edge. "How did you get this data?" Husk asked Lawrence. "I compiled it from public data from Google Maps," Lawrence replied. "I'll buy it," said Husk. She sent Lawrence a check for $100,000.

Samlings, having learned of Lawrence's activities, wants to keep Final Frontier from using the Index and keep Lawrence from disclosing it to anyone else.

What is the likelihood of prevailing in the lawsuit and securing an injunction against Lawrence and Final Frontier. As you may recall, the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act does not preempt state protections, so Samlings could bring claims under the DTSA or state law. Lawrence lives in the State of Denial, which borders Florida and Georgia. Denial has not formally adopted either the Restatement of Torts or the UTSA, but its courts have relied on either or both in prior trade secret cases. Either the Restatement or the UTSA provide guidance that courts rely on in assessing trade secret claims under Denial state law.