This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

P manufactures and sells chocolate chip cookies. P had begun producing chocolate chip cookies by incorporating walnut shavings, also called 'chaff, nut meal, nut dust, and nut crunch,' into the cookie mix. After that, 'sales took off immediately. [The nut meal] did to the cookies what butter does to popcorn, or salt to a pretzel. It really made the flavor sing.' P brought an action against D alleging that D had stolen a secret chocolate chip cookie recipe from P and was manufacturing and selling cookies using that formula. D was permanently enjoined from 'making, baking, and selling chocolate chip cookies which use or utilize P's formula.' D appealed, and the Appeals Court affirmed the judgment. P filed a petition of contempt claiming that D violated the permanent injunction. The judge found that many of the ingredients used by P and D are common to most commercially made chocolate chip cookies, but no commercial cookie manufacturer, except P, uses nut meal. He found that 'it is the nut meal . . . which gives P's [their] unique and distinctive flavor.' Following the injunction, D did not use nut meal in their chocolate chip cookies, but added four ounces of vanilla per batch of approximately 1,100 cookies. P did not use vanilla in its cookies. 'As a result of this substitution, D's cookies, which previously had a nutty taste similar to P, thereafter developed a distinctive vanilla flavor.' The judge also determined that D altered their formula in other ways that affected their chocolate chip cookies' texture and taste. The court concluded that D does not make, bake, and sell chocolate chip cookies that use or utilize P's formula. P appealed. P claims that its chocolate chip cookie formula, which includes not only specific ingredients but also the proportions in which those ingredients are used, has been adjudicated a trade secret, and that, therefore, others rightfully may neither manufacture nor sell competing products derived from it. P claims that D 'used' P's formula even though, as the judge found, they modified it in numerous ways. P claims that D did not produce an 'independent product,' but rather produced the 'substantial equivalent' of P's product -- a product substantially derived from P's formula. From this, P claims that D is in contempt.

The legal issues presented in this case will be displayed here.

The applicable rule of law for this case will be displayed here.

The court's holding and decision will be displayed here.

Legal analysis from Dean's Law Dictionary will be displayed here.