Late last week, the Texas Supreme Court denied a petition for mandamus in which the petitioner sought an order compelling a plaintiff to identify the specific trade secrets it contends were misappropriated, bucking what...more
A key cinematic meme over the past 25 years is an electronic device implanted under your skin that tracks your movements, provides you access to restricted areas, or connects you to a larger virtual community. ...more
On May 19, 2017, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law several amendments to the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act (“TUTSA”), located in Chapter 134A of the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code. The amendments go into...more
The San Antonio Court of Appeals recently held that an applicant for a temporary injunction in a trade-secret-misappropriation case under the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act is not required to show the defendant is actually...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Texas Supreme Court throws out a former employee’s defamation suit under the Texas Citizens Participation Act, finding that communications about his alleged failure to measure a petroleum storage tank...more
3/3/2017
/ Anti-SLAPP ,
Appeals ,
Citizens Participation Acts ,
Defamation ,
Exxon Mobil ,
Former Employee ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Public Interest ,
Public Safety ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
TX Supreme Court
Applying new Texas Supreme Court precedent, a Texas Court of Appeals recently held that a six-year-old cease-and-desist letter alleging trade-secret misappropriation did not constitute proof of knowledge for purposes of the...more
A Texas Court of Appeals affirmed a summary judgment last month in favor of an ex-employee declaring that a noncompete clause in an asset purchase agreement and separate noncompete agreement did not bar him from competing...more
12/28/2016
/ Appeals ,
Asset Purchaser ,
Competition ,
Contract Terms ,
Employment Contract ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Purchase Agreement ,
Resignation ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Summary Judgment
On October 27, 2016, the Fort Worth Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s order denying an application for temporary injunction seeking to enjoin Thomas Musgrave, the former president of Henry F. Coffeen III Management,...more
12/3/2016
/ Appeals ,
Breach of Contract ,
Consideration ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employment Contract ,
Interlocutory Appeals ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Scope and Duration of Restrictive Covenant ,
TRO
A Texas Court of Appeals held on August 22, 2016, that a former employer was entitled to $2.8 million in attorney’s fees against a former employee who used the employer’s information to compete against it. The Court reached...more
9/2/2016
/ Appeals ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Breach of Contract ,
Confidential Information ,
Damages ,
Employment Contract ,
Former Employee ,
Jury Trial ,
Misappropriation ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
Remedies ,
Trade Secrets ,
Unfair Competition
In a clash between two major oil companies, the Texas Supreme Court ruled May 20, 2016 that the recently enacted Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act (“TUTSA”) allows the trial court discretion to exclude a company representative...more
6/1/2016
/ Breach of Contract ,
Confidential Information ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Declaratory Judgments ,
Due Process ,
Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine ,
Misappropriation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Registered Representatives ,
Trade Secrets ,
TRO ,
TX Supreme Court ,
Writ of Mandamus
On January 13, before the Texas Supreme Court, two major oil-and-gas-services companies disputed whether Texas’s new trade secret laws require a trial court to exclude a party’s corporate representative from a hearing at...more
In a case solely comprised of state-law claims to enforce employment covenants, a United States District Judge in the North District of Texas ruled last week in Leica Microsystems Inc. v. Hernandez et al., No. 3:15-CV-2531-D,...more