News Notes: Employee Who Revealed Trade Secrets Barred From Working In Field

In a new approach to dealing with leaks of trade secrets, a court barred a high-tech employee from performing any work in his field for two years after he allegedly disclosed confidential documents to a competitor during a job interview. The case involved David Allouche, who worked for National Semiconductor Corporation in Silicon Valley. Allouche allegedly revealed secret documents to representatives of Siemans Corporation during the interview. After the meeting, Siemans notified National Semiconductor of the disclosure. National then sued Allouche, who had already quit to take another job, and a judge ordered him not to perform any work in his field of expertise for two years. Allouche and National then agreed to a confidential settlement in the case. However, Allouche is now suing Siemans for slander, invasion of privacy, and interfering with his employment relationships.