§ 39-8-10 Short title
§ 39-8-20 Definitions
§ 39-8-30 Trade secrets; employees’ obligation to refrain from disclosing; civil actions and remedies
§ 39-8-40 Recovery of actual damages; exemplary damages
§ 39-8-50 Injunctions against actual or threatened misappropriations
§ 39-8-60 Preservation of secrecy during discovery proceedings of civil actions; substantial need defined
§ 39-8-70 Time limit for bringing action
§ 39-8-80 Bad faith; award of attorney’s fees
§ 39-8-90 Persons guilty of stealing trade secrets; criminal penalties
§ 39-8-100 Criminal proceedings; finding of disclosure of trade secrets; issuance of protective order
§ 39-8-110 Chapter’s effect on conflicting tort, restitutionary, and other laws; effect on remedies
§ 39-8-120 Severability
§ 39-8-130 Retroactive application of chapter

Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 39 > Chapter 8 - Trade Secrets

  • Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
  • agricultural products: shall include horticultural, viticultural, forestry, dairy, livestock, poultry, bee and any other farm products;

    (2) The term "member" shall include actual members of associations without capital stock and holders of common stock in associations organized with capital stock; and

    (3) The term "association" means any corporation organized under this chapter. See South Carolina Code 33-47-20
  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • Articles of incorporation: means the articles of conversion of a corporation converted to a telephone cooperative pursuant to Article 8 of this chapter. See South Carolina Code 33-46-20
  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • association: means any corporation organized under this chapter. See South Carolina Code 33-47-20
  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • Improper means: include theft, bribery, misrepresentation, breach or inducement of a breach of a duty to maintain secrecy, duties imposed by the common law, statute, contract, license, protective order, or other court or administrative order, or espionage through electronic or other means. See South Carolina Code 39-8-20
  • Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
  • Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
  • Member: means each incorporator of a cooperative and each person admitted to and retaining membership therein and includes a husband and wife admitted to joint membership. See South Carolina Code 33-46-20
  • 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
  • Owner: means the person or entity in whom or in which rightful legal or equitable title to the trade secret is reposed. See South Carolina Code 39-8-20
  • Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
  • Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, joint venture, government, governmental subdivision or agency, or any other legal or commercial entity. See South Carolina Code 39-8-20
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • Telephone cooperative: means a corporation which is financed, now or formerly, in whole or in part by the Department of Agriculture made under the provisions of the Rural Electric Act of 1936, Title 26, Section 922 of the United States Code, and acts amendatory thereto for the purposes of owning or operating in this State equipment or facilities for the transmission of intelligence through a communication service system including, but not limited to, telephone services, mobile radio, and cable television on a cooperative basis as is tax exempt pursuant to Internal Revenue Service Code 501(c)(12) or an association of like corporations exempt from tax pursuant to 501(c)(6), or operated under a cooperative basis pursuant to Subchapter T of the Internal Revenue Code and originally incorporated pursuant to Title 33, Chapter 45 of the South Carolina Code of Laws or this chapter. See South Carolina Code 33-46-20
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
  • Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
  • Trade secret: means :

    (a) information including, but not limited to, a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, product, system, or process, design, prototype, procedure, or code that:

    (i) derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by the public or any other person who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use, and

    (ii) is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy. See South Carolina Code 39-8-20
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.