Nulomoline Co. v. Stromeyer

• Citation: 249 F. 597
• Decision Date: 04 March 1918
• Docket Number: 2305.
• Parties: NULOMOLINE CO. v. STROMEYER.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit)

249 F. 597

NULOMOLINE CO. v. STROMEYER.

No. 2305.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

March 4, 1918

Rehearing Denied April 9, 1918.

Leo Levy, of New York City, and Chester N. Farr, Jr., of Philadelphia, Pa., for appellant.

James F. Ryan and Michael J. Ryan, both of Philadelphia, Pa., for appellee.

Before BUFFINGTON, McPHERSON, and WOOLLEY, Circuit Judges.

McPHERSON Circuit Judge.

Our examination of this voluminous record, containing more than 1,000 printed pages, has convinced us that the bill should not have been dismissed. The opinion of the District Judge is reported in 245 Fed.at page 195, and we agree that the controversy is one of fact. Moreover, it seems to us to lie within narrow limits, and we think what is now relevant may be fairly summarized as follows:

In November, 1910, Maxwell Tausek entered the direct employment of the Nulomoline Company, a manufacturer of invert sugar and agreed, inter alia, that he would not--

' * * * engage in any other business whatsoever; that he will perform such duties as may be assigned to him during the course of the employment herein provided for. (He) covenants and agrees that any and all knowledge or information that may be obtained by him in the course of the employment with respect to the conduct and details of the business and with respect to the secret processes, formulas, machinery utensils, and arts used by the employer in manufacturing its products, will be by him forever kept inviolate and be by him concealed from any competitor and all other persons, and that he will not engage as employer, employe, principal, agent, or otherwise, directly or indirectly, at any time hereinafter in a similar business, and that he will not impart the knowledge by him acquired of the said secret processes, formulas machinery, utensils, and arts of manufacture of the employer to anybody whomsoever, and that, should he at any time leave the employ of the employer, he hereby covenants and agrees that he will not in violation of its terms enter into the employ or service or otherwise act in aid of the business of any rival company or concern or individual engaged in the same or in similar lines of business; and, if he does so in violation hereof, the employer shall be entitled to an injunction by any competent court of equity enjoining and restraining (him) and each and every other person concerned thereby from continuance of such employment, service, or other act in aid of the business of such rival company or concern. Nothing herein contained shall prevent (him) upon the termination of the employment, in engaging in any occupation in which the processes, formulas, and other secrets of the employer will not be directly or indirectly...