They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but one online chef is calling foul when it comes to Burger King’s Mac n’ Cheetos. [More]
trade secrets
Doll Creator Taking Hasbro To Court Over “My Little Pony” Designs Files Another Lawsuit
By 8.4.16
A doll creator who’s already going to court with Hasbro for allegedly stealing her designs for new versions of My Little Pony and other toys filed an additional lawsuit this week. [More]
Panera Suing Former IT Exec And His New Employer Papa John’s Over Trade Secrets
By 7.20.16
It’s tough out there for food chains who are trying to attract customers with the newest, the freshest, the healthiest, and the tastiest menu items. That intense rivalry is why many companies require non-compete clauses in employees’ contracts, to keep trade secrets, well, secret. [More]
Did The St. Louis Cardinals Hack Houston Astros’ Front Office? FBI Investigating
By 6.16.15
Major League Baseball is a huge business and much of a team’s financial success depends on its ability to win on the field. So the idea of one team possibly breaching another team’s network to get information on player personnel isn’t very different from two rival manufacturers trying to steal trade secrets. That’s why the FBI is investigating claims that the St. Louis Cardinals might have hacked into the computer network for the Houston Astros’ front office. [More]
Media Companies Afraid To Show FCC Their Comcast Contracts Because Rivals Might Learn Their Secrets
By 9.30.14
It’s no secret that media companies are pretty worried about the repercussions of letting Comcast and Time Warner Cable merge. But what is a big secret are the agreements that those companies have with Comcast and TWC right now. They’re so secret, in fact, that networks are refusing to share any data with the FCC because they’re afraid their rivals might benefit from it. And that’s a problem, because without that data, the FCC is missing one of the key tools it should have in its toolbox as it evaluates the merger. [More]
Red Cross Raised More Than $300 Million After Hurricane Sandy: How Did They Spend It?
By 6.26.14
Shady charities pop up after a disaster, and the standard advice at such times is to donate instead to established, trusted organizations like the Red Cross. Only the Red cross, which raised more than $300 million after Hurricane Sandy isn’t keen to have the world know what they spent all of that money on. [More]
The Secret To Delicious No-Sugar-Added Baking: Tasty, Tasty Sugar
By 3.15.13
What’s the secret to totally delicious healthy, no-sugar-added baking? Fat and sugar, of course! This re-enactment of a classic “Seinfeld” episode is brought to you by Butterfly Bakery of New Jersey, where three out of the company’s 45 varieties of baked goods were shown to contain a lot more saturated fat and sugar than the label stated. By “a lot,” we mean twice the saturated fat listed on the label, and three times the sugar. [More]
4 Reasons Why Fast Food Secret Menu Items Are Good For Business
By 3.1.13
We’ve been writing about secret menu items — those special fast food treats that a restaurant will make upon request but aren’t listed on the menu — for years, but we’ve never really broken down just why these items aren’t on the menu, and why that’s actually a good thing for these eateries. [More]
FDA Wants Tobacco Companies To Submit Ingredients List By June
By 1.18.10
“Tobacco products today are really the only human-consumed product that we don’t know what’s in them,” the director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products said to the Associated Press. To address that, the agency has told tobacco companies to provide a list of the ingredients in their cigarette brands by June 2010. The FDA says it won’t publicize a lot of the data in order to protect trade secrets, but that by June 2011 it will publish a list of “harmful and potentially harmful” ingredients, at which point tobacco companies will have to start listing the amounts of each one on their products. [More]
Woman Sprayed With Pesticide Can't Get List Of Chemicals Because They're A Trade Secret
By 6.2.09
A North Carolina woman out walking her dog last month was sprayed in the face with a gypsy moth pesticide, and subsequently developed “a severe rash and other flu-like symptoms, breathing complications, and nausea for several days.” Unfortunately, her doctor can’t treat her properly because the company that makes the spray won’t tell him what’s in it.
