News & Analysis as of October 19, 2024

Intellectual Property Protection

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Non-Compete Agreements are contracts, typically formed in employment or business purchase contexts, where one party agrees to refrain from engaging in a particular line of work or pursuing business within a certain industry or locale. The purpose of these agreements is to protect employers or business purchasers from competition stemming from former employees or former owners of a business. less -

Federal District Court Blocks FTC's Noncompete Rule

FordHarrison on 8/21/2024

Real World Impact: Making good on her promise to make a ruling on the FTC Noncompete Rule on or before August 30, 2024, United States District Judge Ada Brown granted a motion for summary judgment that sets aside the FTC...more

Noncompete News: Will New York City's Noncompete Ban Beat the FTC Final Rule to the Punch?

FordHarrison on 5/8/2024

As we recently reported, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its long-awaited final rule on April 23, 2024, banning virtually all noncompetition agreements between employers and workers. Lawsuits challenging the final...more

Court Direction on FTC’s Noncompete Ban Expected This Summer

Carlton Fields on 5/3/2024

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has issued an aggressive scheduling order that “should allow prompt resolution of” one of the initial challenges to the FTC’s noncompete ban “with sufficient time,...more

Analysis of FTC Non-Compete Ban Legal Challenges: Does the Ban Pass Constitutional Muster? (And Other Issues)

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 5/1/2024

On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted in a 3 to 2 decision along party lines to adopt its Final Non-Compete Clause Rule (“Noncompete Rule”) banning post-employment non-compete clauses between employers...more

The Year in Unfair Competition and Trade Secrets: 2023 Developments and What Is on the Horizon for 2024

Littler on 12/20/2023

2023 was an active year in the world of unfair competition and trade secrets law, with employers’ use of restrictive covenant agreements coming under assault at the Federal Trade Commission and National Labor Relations Board,...more

Global Non-Compete Reform – At a Glance: December 2023

Littler on 12/7/2023

The US is not the only country currently debating reform to the law on non-competes. Notably the UK Government has announced legislation which would limit the duration of non-competes to a period of 3 months after the...more

Preemption Questions Continue as FTC and NLRB Fight Restrictive Covenants

Epstein Becker & Green on 11/29/2023

As federal administrative agencies wade further into rulemaking and adjudicative efforts to outlaw noncompetes and restrictive covenants, defendants are beginning to raise preemption arguments in response to state court...more

50 State Desktop Reference - What Businesses Need to Know about Non-Competes and Trade Secrets Law

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 11/8/2023

Introduction - As we enter a new era of business landscape dynamics, Seyfarth Shaw is pleased to present the latest edition of our annual cornerstone publication. This comprehensive 50-State Non-Compete Desktop Reference,...more

Golden State Crackdown on Non-Competes: California Enacts Second Non-Compete Law To Curtail Use of Non-Competes With Employees

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 10/19/2023

California has done it again! We reported last month concerning California’s new non-compete law that furthers the state’s protections for employee mobility and seeks to void out of state employee non-compete agreements....more

Minnesota Is Poised to Enact a Law Banning Virtually All Non-Compete Agreements

Littler on 5/15/2023

A proposed law banning virtually all covenants not to compete (also known as non-compete agreements) is headed to the Minnesota State Senate and House of Representatives, where it is widely expected to pass. Once it arrives...more

UK Follows US FTC Proposal and Issues its Own Non-compete Proposals

Littler on 5/11/2023

The UK government on May 10, 2023, announced its intention to limit the length of post-employment non-compete clauses (i.e., restrictions prohibiting an employee from going to work for a competitor or to start a rival...more

Non-Compete Agreements: What Employers and Healthcare Providers Should Know

PilieroMazza PLLC on 1/25/2022

Non-compete clauses are a common component in employment agreements for many businesses and healthcare providers. Employers and healthcare providers, ranging from large public hospitals and Fortune 500 companies to small...more

Low Wage and Employee Classification Limits on Non-Compete Agreements

Proskauer Rose LLP on 11/19/2021

Over the past few years, states across the country have sought to limit or reduce the use of employee non-compete agreements. While some states have imposed outright bans on such agreements, many more have passed laws that...more

Illinois Enacts Restrictions on the Use of Non-Compete Agreements: What Employers Need to Know

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP on 8/31/2021

KEY POINTS - - Effective January 1, 2022, employers will need to comply with significant new amendments to the Illinois Freedom to Work Act (the Act), a previously narrow statute restricting the use of non-competes with...more

Oregon Legislature Further Limits Employee Non-Competition Agreements, Including Imposing a 12-Month Limit on Duration

Stoel Rives - World of Employment on 5/28/2021

Over the last several years, the Oregon Legislature has whittled away employers’ ability to enforce employee non-competition agreements (see our posts from 2007, 2015). Senate Bill 169, which Governor Brown signed into law...more

Don’t Neglect Forum Selection and Choice of Law Provisions When Drafting or Litigating Restrictive Covenants

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP on 12/1/2020

Employment agreements with restrictive covenants typically contain both a forum selection clause, which determines the forum where a dispute must be heard, and a choice of law clause, which determines the law that applies to...more

Mirabile Dictu - Quidel Is Back After Ixchel

Allen Matkins on 11/10/2020

In August 2019, I wrote about a decision by the Fourth District Court of Appeal finding that a non-compete clause in a patent license agreement was not invalid per se pursuant to Section 16600 of the California Business &...more

Top 10 Developments and Headlines in Trade Secret, Non-Compete, and Computer Fraud Law for 2019 & 2020

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 2/27/2020

Continuing our annual tradition, we have compiled our top developments and headlines for 2019 & 2020 in trade secret, non-compete, and computer fraud law. Here’s what you need to know to keep abreast of the ever-changing law...more

The Future of Employment Non-Competes: The Federal Trade Commission Considers Rulemaking and Signals an Appetite for Stricter...

ArentFox Schiff on 1/27/2020

In short, the petitioners asked for a rule that non-competes are an unfair method of competition that is illegal per se under Section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Further, they asked that any employer presenting,...more

Lucky Seven: Rhode Island the Seventh State to Pass a Statute Governing Non-Compete Agreements During 2019

Epstein Becker & Green on 10/28/2019

Rhode Island is the latest state to jump on the bandwagon of limiting the application of non-compete agreements, with its Rhode Island Noncompetition Agreement Act (the “Act”)....more

Merger Non-Compete Clauses – Be Lawful or Be Gone

Orrick - Antitrust Watch on 9/19/2019

Non-compete clauses are commonly included in M&A agreements. Although generally recognized as lawful, non-competes must fulfill certain requirements to comply with antitrust and competition laws. A recent FTC enforcement...more

Who Pays When Your New Employee Brings Your Competitor’s Trade Secrets?

Gray Reed on 9/3/2019

Days ago, engineer Anthony Levandowski was indicted on criminal charges accusing him of stealing information from Google-owned Waymo and taking it to Uber. While the indictment alleges he downloaded 14,000 documents...more

Use Of Out-Of-State Restrictive Covenants Ending Quickly In California

Orrick - Trade Secrets Group on 8/26/2019

Two years ago, TSW reported on several cases in which corporations outside of California successfully enforced non-compete agreements against California employees. They did so by using employment agreements containing...more

Texas Jury Rejects Digital Marketing Company’s $50 Million Trade Secret Misappropriation Claim

Orrick - Trade Secrets Group on 7/17/2019

After a weeklong June trial, a Texas federal jury awarded Six Dimensions, Inc. (“Six Dimensions”), a digital marketing firm, $287,000 for its breach-of-contract claim against its former employee but rejected its behemoth $50...more

Oregon Adds Employee-Friendly Requirement to Existing Non-Compete Law… But Also Produces Company-Friendly Trade Secrets Law in...

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 6/24/2019

On May 14, 2019, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed into law HB 2992, which, as of January 1, 2020, requires an employer to provide a terminated employee with a signed, written copy of his or her non-competition agreement...more

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