Shepherd left Alliance Co$.$ as an employee to work for Firefly Inc. At Alliance Co$.$ Shepherd had access to proprietary algorithms used to process data. Firefly hired Shepherd specifically to use and improve upon those algorithms at Firefly. Under the circumstances:

Shepherd has a duty to safeguard these algorithms because they are trade secrets$.$

Shepherd only has a duty to safeguard these algorithms if they were copyrighted.

Shepherd can only use these algorithms if he developed them at Alliance Co$.$

Shepherd can use these algorithms regardless of who developed them in his new role at Firefly.