Trade secrecy in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory

The Law and Theory of Trade Secrecy: A Handbook of Contemporary Research

Volumn , Issue , 2011, Pages 3-17

  Fromer, Jeanne C ^a  

^a FORDHAM LAW SCHOOL   (United States)

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EID: 84864803938     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: None     Document Type: Chapter

References (24)

1. Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Puffi n ed. 1998, orig. ed. 1964).
2. Roald Dahl, Boy: Tales of Childhood 28-31 (1984)
3. Joël Glenn Brenner, The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars 61, 65 (1999)
4. [35] U.S.C. § 112. See generally Jeanne C. Fromer, Patent Disclosure, 94 Iowa L. Rev. 539 (2009).
5. [35] U.S.C. § 154(a). Mars will secure patents from time to time on machinery that will be in public view, such as vending machines, U.S. Pat. No. 5,831,862 (issued November 3, 1998), and occasionally even for peripheral chocolate products, such as a cocoa extract and a method of making it to prevent and treat cancer, U.S. Pat. No. 5,554,645 (issued September 10, 1996).
6. U.S. Copyright Offi ce - Recipes, www.copyright.gov/fl s/fl 122.html (last visited January 18, 2011).
7. Whitehead V. Paramount Pictures Corp., 53 F. Supp. 2d 38, 46 (D.D.C. 1999).
8. Christopher J. Buccafusco, On the Legal Consequences of Sauces: Should Thomas Keller's Recipes be Per Se Copyrightable?, 24 Cardozo Arts & Ent. L.J. 1121 (2007)
9. J. Austin Broussard, Note, An Intellectual Property Food Fight: Why Copyright Law Should Embrace Culinary Innovation, 10 Vand. J. Ent. & Tech. L. 691 (2008)
10. Emanuelle Fauchart and Eric von Hippel, Norms- Based Intellectual Property Systems: The Case of French Chefs, 19 Org. Sci. 187 (2008) (exploring how French chefs use certain norms to protect their valuable recipes).
11. David S. Levine, Secrecy and Unaccountability: Trade Secrets in Our Public Infrastructure, 59 Fla. L. Rev. 135, 145 (2007).
12. Kewanee Oil Co. v. Bicron Corp., 416 U.S. 470, 476 (1974) (independent discovery); Cal. Civ. Code § 3426.1(a) (West 2006) (reverse engineering).
13. Unif. Trade Secrets Act § 1(4) (amended 1985) (adopted in 46 states and the District of Columbia); accord 18 U.S.C. § 1839(3)(A).
14. Roger M. Milgrim, Milgrim on Trade Secrets § 1.04 (2009).
15. Unif. Trade Secrets Act § 1 cmt (2005).
16. Victoria A. Cundiff, Reasonable Measures to Protect Trade Secrets in a Digital Environment, 49 IDEA 359, 363-4 (2009).
17. Rockwell Graphic Sys., Inc. v. DEV Indus., 925 F.2d 174, 178-9 (7th Cir. 1991).
18. Michael Risch, Why Do We Have Trade Secrets?, 11 Marq. Intell. Prop. L. Rev. 1, 45-7 (2007).
19. Whether or not this requirement ought to be an element of trade secrecy is disputed. See Mark A. Lemley, The Surprising Virtues of Treating Trade Secrets as IP Rights, 61 Stan. L. Rev. 311, 348-50 (2008).
20. E.I. duPont de Nemours & Co. v. Christopher, 431 F.2d 1012, 1016 (5th Cir. 1970).
21. Given the degree of secrecy in the candy industry, it is perhaps unsurprising that the earliest reported American case on misappropriation of trade secrets involved a method for making chocolate. See Vickery v. Welch, 36 Mass. 523 (1837).
22. That said, Wonka possibly saved money by taking this measure, given that he was paying the Oompa- Loompas in cacao beans and chocolate instead of paying cash as to his previous employees
23. Gambale v. Deutsche Bank AG, 377 F.3d 133, 144 n.11 (2d Cir. 2004).
24. Kewanee Oil Co. v. Bicron Corp., 416 U.S. 470, 484-93 (1974).