Scenario: Following 2 years of research and an investment of substantial funding, Coastal Company (CC) developed a new product that will produce substantial profits for CC.
CC learned that a competitor, National Sales and Marketing, Inc. (National) made and began to sell a nearly identical product to CC's new product. CC learned from a reliable source that National paid a CC employee to obtain the plans for CC's new product when it was in the development stages.
Under what legal claim could CC sue National, and why?
If CC does sue National under this legal claim, what is the likely result and why?