In Leo Silfen, Inc. v. Cream, 29 N.Y.2d 387, 278 N.E.2d 636, 328 N.Y.S.2d 423 (1972), the former employer of Defendant sought to enjoin him from using a list of customers and catalogue of customer data to compete with Plaintiff after the discharge. The complaint alleged that Defendant had been soliciting Plaintiff's customers, had made copies of Plaintiffs' secret and confidential customer files, and was using such information in his solicitation. The Court in Silfen distinguished when and when not customer lists constituted a trade secret. Initially, the Court noted that a former employee "may use in competition with his former employers names, even lists, of customers retained in his memory". Id. at 392. In addition, "where customers are readily ascertainable outside the employer's business as prospective users or consumers of the employer's services or products, trade secret protection will not attach and courts will not enjoin the employee from soliciting his employer's customers". Id. To the contrary, where the identity of customers is not known in the trade, and could be discovered only by extraordinary efforts, courts are inclined to protect the customer lists and files as trade secrets. Id.