What is the effect of a former employee's use of confidential information obtained from his former employer to solicit the business of their former employer's customers?

The court held that the defendants' actions constituted a breach of trust and misappropriation of confidential information. There was "substantial evidence to support the trial court's determination that plaintiff's knowledge was confidential and deserving of protection, and that defendants' ability to solicit both more selectively and more effectively was due to their extensive use of plaintiff's customer list--a patent act of unfair competition." (Id. at p. 466, 151 Cal.Rptr. 118.) Indeed, the cases are legion holding that a former employee's use of confidential information obtained from his former employer to compete with him and to solicit the business of his former employer's customers, is regarded as unfair competition. (See, e.g., Greenly v.

Page 361