Introduction to Double Agents Sell Secret Formula

July 6, 2006 | Post Archive

How much does a can of Coke cost these days – maybe 75 cents? Not if you’re one of three people arrested for [almost] selling Coca-Cola’s secret formula to their staunchest competitor, Pepsi.

Joya Williams, an executive administrative assistant at the company, is accused of stealing confidential documents containing Coca-Cola’s trade secrets, a glass vial of a new beverage still in development, and its packaging. But what seemed like a perfect plan wasn’t so perfect after all. Aside from the video camera placed in Williams’ office, it appears the folks over at Pepsi are good people: once they received the offer for the stolen secrets, Pepsi was quick to alert Coca-Cola, who then contacted the FBI.

The Feds set up a sting, making one of their own pose as a Pepsi employee who negotiated the deal with Williams’ co-conspirator, Ibrahim Dimson of New York. Dimson met the undercover agent in Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where he traded the vial of drink for a Girl Scout cookie box stuffed with $30,000 (finally, something that beats Thin Mints). After the exchange, FBI agents followed Dimson to the home of the third party involved, Edmund Duhaney of Decatur, GA. If convicted, the failed attempt to get Coke’s goat could cost the trio up to 30 years in prison.

For a little help in understanding the difference between trade secrets and copyrights, Marshall Brain has an explanation: Trade secrets are very different from patents, copyrights and trademarks. While patents and copyrights require you to disclose your information in the application process (information that eventually becomes public), trade secrets require you to keep the information secret. Trade-secret protection can potentially last longer than that of patents (20 years) and copyrights (100 years). Some of the ways to protect a trade secret are as follows: Restrict access to the information (lock it away in a secure place, such as a bank vault). Limit the number of people who know the information. Have the people who know the trade secret agree in writing not to disclose the information (sign non-disclosure agreements). Have anyone that comes in contact with the trade secret, directly or indirectly, sign non-disclosure agreements. Mark any written material pertaining to the trade secret as proprietary. Trade secrets remain valid only as long as no one else has discovered the information independently, the information has not been made public (by employees or published literature) nor discovered by working backward from the original product/process or publicly observing the product/process. If the trade secret is revealed in violation of a non-disclosure agreement, you can sue for damages. However, once the secret is revealed, it is hard to get the trade-secret status resumed. Trade secrets are protected under many state laws, Federal statutes and some international laws.

Now, as the condensation from a frosty-cold can of Coke collects on my desk (even as the words of my mother-in-law, wife of a dentist, ring in my ears: “That stuff will rot your teeth”), I’m thankful. I’m thankful because you, Pepsi, didn’t sink to the level of petty soft-drink double agents and saved the Coca-Cola Empire from imminent defeat. Thanks to you, Coca-Cola will carry on in its mission to save the world one delicious bottle at a time. (link)