In 2024, Seyfarth’s Trade Secrets, Computer Fraud & Non-Compete practice group presented a series of dynamic and insightful CLE webinars, addressing pivotal challenges confronting businesses head-on. ...more
1/3/2025
/ Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Contract Terms ,
Employee Mobility ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Trade Secrets
This afternoon, the FTC voted to adopt a proposed final rule banning most non-competes with workers in the United States. The final rule provides that it is an unfair method of competition—and therefore a violation of Section...more
4/24/2024
/ Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
FTC Act ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Labor Reform ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Proposed Rules ,
Trade Secrets
Welcome, readers. We are at a pivotal juncture in the realm of non-compete law. Today, we will be providing real-time coverage of a consequential Federal Trade Commission (FTC) meeting. This is not just an ordinary meeting;...more
In 2023, Seyfarth’s Trade Secrets, Computer Fraud & Non-Compete practice group presented a series of dynamic and insightful CLE webinars, addressing pivotal challenges confronting businesses head-on. The breadth of our...more
Boston Beer Corporation (“Boston Beer”) recently filed suit seeking monetary and injunctive relief in Massachusetts state court, alleging a former employee and his new employer, the competing alcoholic beverage company...more
At the beginning of the pandemic, concerns were raised that trade secret misappropriation might take a new form. Indeed, with large swaths of the workforce working from home, spouses, roommates, or others living in the same...more
Yet another state has made it harder for businesses to implement restrictive covenants—this time with criminal penalties....more
Throughout 2021, our dedicated Trade Secrets, Computer Fraud & Non-Competes Practice Group hosted a series of CLE webinars that addressed significant trade secret and restrictive covenant issues facing clients today. This...more
Peloton has come out on top of the litigation leaderboard yet again. As we previously blogged about here, Peloton is no stranger to trade secret litigation. Peloton recently won dismissal of a “mirror image” declaratory...more
In a rare appellate decision on enforceability of non-disclosure agreements and a plaintiff’s burden to establish the existence of trade secrets, the First Circuit recently overturned a district court summary judgment order...more
Social distancing, a term which few of us had heard of before this year (despite the fact that it has been used since at least the early 2000s), is stretching into its third month....more
Legal analytics powerhouse Lex Machina recently released its 2020 Trade Secret Litigation Report, which highlights federal litigation trends in the last decade, as well as the last year specifically. ...more
In 2012, Peloton rode into the home fitness scene with its now ubiquitous at-home exercise bike, which features a tablet that allows riders to stream both live and pre-recorded classes while competing against other riders on...more
3/9/2020
/ Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inventions ,
Metadata ,
Misappropriation ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Proprietary Information ,
Software ,
Trade Secrets
For the first time in 15 years, the Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”), Massachusetts’ highest court, issued a decision analyzing the enforceability of non-solicitation covenants, the distinction between such covenants in the...more
2/5/2020
/ Business Disputes ,
Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Contract Drafting ,
Contract Negotiations ,
Contract Terms ,
Employment Contract ,
Equitable Tolling ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Legitimate Business Interest ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Shareholders ,
Tolling Agreement ,
Trade Secrets ,
Written Agreements
As readers of this blog know, most trade secret misappropriation claims are brought in civil complaints—but a recent case out of Pennsylvania reveals how quickly the tables can turn on a civil plaintiff asserting claims...more
4/25/2019
/ ADEA ,
Class Action ,
Confidential Information ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Employee Misconduct ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Misappropriation ,
Trade Secrets
Last week, the Ninth Circuit finally ruled that a former Anheuser-Busch employee cannot avoid claims filed by the brewer alleging misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of a nondisclosure agreement, the latest in a long...more
4/2/2019
/ Anheuser-Busch ,
Anti-SLAPP ,
Breach of Contract ,
Class Action ,
Former Employee ,
Free Speech ,
Misappropriation ,
Motion To Strike ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Proprietary Information ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Trade Secrets
As we’ve previously written about on this blog, last summer the Massachusetts legislature passed a non-compete reform bill which went into effect on October 1, 2018. ...more
3/1/2019
/ Choice-of-Law ,
Confidential Information ,
Contract Terms ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employment Contract ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Popular ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Trade Secrets
A small, Chicago-based magnetic picture frame developer’s claims for trade secret misappropriation against a photo album manufacturer will be headed to trial after an Illinois federal district court largely denied the...more
Many companies assume that they need to choose between patent protections or trade secret protections for their intellectual property, thereby foregoing an important tool in their arsenal to protect key company assets....more
In a classic example of bad facts creating bad law, a federal judge in Kentucky recently denied a motion to dismiss claims brought against attorneys who allegedly counseled employees to breach a non-compete agreement and...more
7/18/2018
/ Banking Sector ,
Breach of Contract ,
Breach of Duty ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Legal Advice ,
Legal Representatives ,
Misappropriation ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Pre-Employment Agreements ,
Tortious Interference ,
Trade Secrets ,
Wells Fargo
For the third year in a row, the Washington state legislature failed to pass non-compete legislation, declining to take action on two separate bills that would have severely restricted employers’ ability to enforce former...more
Last Friday, on January 20, 2017, the Massachusetts Legislature began its annual tradition of attempting to promulgate non-compete and trade secret reform in the Commonwealth. A new bill has been filed by the same legislators...more
Several members of Seyfarth’s Trade Secrets, Computer Fraud & Non-Competes Practice Group attended the AIPLA’s annual Trade Secret Law Summit on November 12-13, 2015. Rick Lutkus spoke on a panel that was moderated by Erik...more
For Dumpling Daughter and its newly opened rival Dumpling Girl, things are heating up in the kitchen and the courtroom, as reported by the Boston Globe, after the former filed a lawsuit in federal court in Boston asserting a...more
In Seyfarth's sixth installment of our 2015 Trade Secrets Webinar Series, Seyfarth attorneys will discuss the significant statutory changes to several jurisdictions’ laws regarding trade secrets and restrictive covenants and...more