Trademark, trade secret, definitely competing...

Here' one I found that seems pretty cut and dried. Check out the second article on this webpage. Most cases kind of make me smile a little bit, but this one is outright criminal behavior on the part of the "alleged" offenders.

http://www.iptrademarkattorney.com/trade_secrets/

Former employees of a company which manufactures valves and other items for various industries went into business for themselves. This article says these two guys secured client lists from their former employer, mailed them to personal email accounts, and started doing business with them. Furthermore, the products they are selling to these companies are obviously intended to look just like the original. The only difference between the two trademarks is a small dash. When either of these two are stamped onto the goods the potential for confusing them is obvious. What's more, the new company name, Kingtech, is darn close to the original company name of Kingston. Thinking they could have been a little more creative here.

Since these two had a no-compete clause signed, the trademark is remarkably similar, the client list was misappropriated (complete with prices paid by customer), their choice of company name is basically the same, and their product was found at their previous employer's customer site, I'm thinking they'll lose this one.

Dave