On Tuesday, April 23, the US Federal Trade Commission issued a final rule that would prohibit many noncompete agreements nationwide (FTC Announcement, AP News coverage). The next day, several business groups filed a lawsuit in Texas, seeking to block this rule (CNBC, The Hill), indicating a rocky road ahead for its implementation. Importantly, if the FTC rule is blocked, recent modifications to Washington's noncompete laws (some of which we briefly summarized here) will survive; and even if the FTC rule comes into effect, portions of the Washington statute will still affect Washington employers.