Terms Used In South Carolina Code 39-8-70

  • Misappropriation: means :

    (a) acquisition of a trade secret of another by a person by improper means;

    (b) acquisition of a trade secret of another by a person who knows or has reason to know that the trade secret was acquired by improper means; or

    (c) disclosure or use of a trade secret of another without express or implied consent by a person who:

    (i) used improper means to acquire knowledge of the trade secret; or

    (ii) at the time of disclosure or use, knew or had reason to know that his knowledge of the trade secret was:

    (A) derived from or through a person who had utilized improper means to acquire it;

    (B) acquired by mistake or under circumstances giving rise to a duty to maintain its secrecy or limit its use; or

    (C) derived from or through a person who owed a duty to the person seeking relief to maintain its secrecy or limit its use; or

    (iii) before a material change of his position, knew or had reason to know that it was a trade secret and that knowledge of it had been acquired by accident or mistake. See South Carolina Code 39-8-20
An action for misappropriation must be brought within three years after the misappropriation is discovered or by the exercise of reasonable diligence should have been discovered. For the purposes of this section, a continuing misappropriation constitutes a single claim.