Nothing on this page is advice about your job, and no article can be. If you want your own facts looked at, a Minnesota employment attorney can do that — and several of the deadlines described on this site are short enough that waiting is itself a decision.
Also called: trade secret misappropriation.
“Misappropriation” means:
(i) 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
(ii) disclosure or use of a trade secret of another without express or implied consent by a person who
(A) used improper means to acquire knowledge of the trade secret; or
(B) at the time of disclosure or use, knew or had reason to know that the discloser’s or user’s knowledge of the trade secret was …
Minn. Stat. § 325C.01, subd. 3. Item (B) runs on through three sub-items and item (C) adds a fourth route; read the subdivision in full. “Improper means” is separately defined at subdivision 2 and “includes theft, bribery, misrepresentation, breach or inducement of a breach of a duty to maintain secrecy, or espionage through electronic or other means.” Note the structure: acquisition alone can be misappropriation, and so can use — the statute does not require both.
Where this comes up
Sources checked September 8, 2026. Citations independently verified against the primary source September 8, 2026.