Even if you don't sign a noncompete, the provisions of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act and its equivalent state-level legislation prevent you from taking private information that's vital to your company's success to a competitor or using it to start your own business. According to the Act, "trade secret" means "information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process, that: (i) derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by, other persons 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." According to a release from the Minnesota law firm of Mansfield, Tanick, and Cohen, the information protected under the act is quite broad in scope and can include manufacturing processes, the formulae for products, software, customer lists, general corporate strategy, business plans, and marketing techniques. The courts take cutting-edge science or technology especially seriously when considering the transfer of trade secrets. The Uniform Trade Secrets Act has been adopted (in various forms) by 40 states. The states that have not adopted the act but which have their own laws (some even more stringent) about trade secrets are: Alabama, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming.

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