Ford Motor Co. v. Robert Lane
A student, Robert Lane, published sensitive, internal documents that belonged to Ford Motor Co. on a website. Ford sued Lane for divulging trade secrets. Lane was not an employee with Ford, and he said he did not know the identity of the individuals who gave him the documents, although the courts said they were likely current or former Ford employees who were under contract not to share that information.
The court ultimately ruled that Ford was attempting to exercise prior restraint against Lane he was not an employee, and it was unconstitutional. Because he was not an employee, he was not in a violation of any contract or confidentiality agreement. If it were an employee who did this, then Ford would have had a case, but it could not exercise prior restraint against Lane because it was not considered a special enough circumstance.
