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Trade Secrets › Confidential Information › Competition

A Trade Secret is any information, not generally known or easily ascertainable, by which an enterprise develops an economic advantage over competitors or customers. In order to maintain trade secrets'... more +
A Trade Secret is any information, not generally known or easily ascertainable, by which an enterprise develops an economic advantage over competitors or customers. In order to maintain trade secrets' protected legal status, enterprises must make reasonable efforts to keep the information secret and prevent unnecessary disclosure.  Trade Secrets may include processes, formulas, methods, designs, patterns, et cetera.   less -
UB Greensfelder LLP

Your Trade Secret IP Stands Between You and Your Competition. The Impending September 4, 2024 FTC Rule Would Ban Most...

UB Greensfelder LLP on

*As of August 20, 2024, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas has blocked the FTC's impending ban on non-compete agreements. Please see the update at the end of this alert. Trade secrets...more

UB Greensfelder LLP

Your Trade Secret IP Stands Between You and Your Competition. The September 4, 2024 FTC Rule Bans Most Non-Competes. Has the FTC...

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Trade secrets exist, by definition, only if the owner takes reasonable measures to maintain their secrecy. This is true under the Federal, State and Uniform Trade Secret Acts. Companies have traditionally used...more

Baker Donelson

Guardians of the Goldmine: Building an Effective Confidentiality Program

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On August 14, Judge Corrigan for the Middle District of Florida, in Properties of the Villages vs. FTC, found that the FTC did not have the authority to enter its planned Noncompete Rule, and entered an order granting an...more

Baker Donelson

Trust, but Verify: The Power of Audits to Protect Your Competitive Edge as Non-Compete Ban Looms

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Corporate leaders concerned about protecting the recipe for their company's success have been following the fitful path of the FTC's rule banning non-competes. Lawsuits seeking to enjoin the rule were filed in multiple...more

Saul Ewing LLP

Virginia Appeals Court Reverses $2 Billion Jury Award to Appian in Trade Secrets Misappropriation Case

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Introduction - In May 2022, a jury in the Circuit Court for Fairfax County, Virginia awarded Appian Corp. (Appian) in excess of $2 billion in damages from Pegasystems, Inc. (Pegasystems) for misappropriating Appian’s trade...more

Baker Donelson

Employers Should Consider Alternative Protections to Address Lack of Clarity Around Non-Compete Rule

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The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) impending Non-Compete Rule invalidating almost all non-compete agreements nationwide received new life after a recent federal decision in Pennsylvania district court. Employers and...more

Mayer Brown

Hong Kong: Restrictive Covenants

Mayer Brown on

Restrictive covenants with the sole aim of preventing competition will not be upheld by Hong Kong courts. In cases where there is a legitimate interest to be protected, restrictive covenants must be reasonable and not go...more

Mayer Brown

Germany: Restrictive Covenants

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AT A GLANCE - Employees in Germany are subject to statutory non-competition and non-solicitation obligations during an employment relationship. Similar statutory restrictions apply to directors and board members as long as...more

Mandelbaum Barrett PC

What is the Impact of the FTC Ban on Non-Competes on Other Types of Contractual Restrictions?

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Introduction - On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) voted to finalize a rule that prohibits employers from enforcing non-compete agreements against workers (“The Rule”)....more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

FTC Issues Final Rule Banning (Almost All) Non-Compete Agreements

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C. on

On May 7, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a Final Rule that renders invalid non-compete clauses in standard employment agreements. 16 C.F.R. § 910. Although some limited exceptions apply, this new regulation...more

Littler

FTC Issues Final Rule Effectively Banning Workplace Non-Compete Agreements

Littler on

On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) by a vote of 3-2 approved and issued its final rule that effectively bans employers’ use of all non-compete agreements (with very limited exceptions). The final rule is...more

ArentFox Schiff

2023 Trade Secrets End of Year Report

ArentFox Schiff on

2023 was a banner year for trade secrets, non-competes, and other restrictive covenants. Employee non-competes continued to garner attention at the federal agency level, drawing commentary and action from the Federal Trade...more

Epstein Becker & Green

Free to Forfeit: Delaware High Court Holds Employee Choice Is Proper Lens for Evaluating Forfeiture-for-Competition Provisions in...

Epstein Becker & Green on

In a bombshell ruling last year that upended longstanding Delaware law, the Delaware Chancery Court ruled in Ainslie v. Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P., 2023 WL 106924 (Del. Ch. Jan. 4, 2023), that forfeiture-for-competition clauses,...more

Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP

Recognizing Risk: When Pursuing A Competitive Edge Creates Exposure to Trade Secret Claims

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A well-known idiom - widely credited to Ben Franklin in the 1700s - is that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Yet, few companies actively train their personnel to recognize the risk of a trade secret...more

Stark & Stark

Employee’s Duty of Loyalty to Employer

Stark & Stark on

While everyone is undoubtedly aware that an employee is not lawfully permitted to steal from his/her employer, the next logical question concerns what specifically are an employee’s legal obligations during their course of...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Wisconsin Legislature Proposes Joining Other States in Ban of Non-Compete Agreements

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

On October 12, 2023, the Wisconsin legislature introduced Assembly Bill 481, which proposes the ban of employee non-compete agreements in the Badger State. Currently, employee non-compete agreements in Wisconsin are allowed...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

Protecting Your IP & Confidential Info

Fox Rothschild LLP on

In a world where non-compete agreements are being curtailed or outright banned, companies need to enhance their use of other ways to protect their intellectual property and confidential information when their employees leave...more

Lippes Mathias LLP

Efficiency at What Costs? Creating Internal AI Policies Mitigates Legal and Business Risks Now.

Lippes Mathias LLP on

With the increase in popularity of artificial intelligence uses in business, companies are scratching the surface of AI’s potential to create efficient processes, automate tasks, and generate content at a low cost. With...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

A Trade Secret Tale: When a “Gold Mine” is not Worth the Digging

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An employee trading places among industry competitors allegedly provided his new employer with bidding and pricing information so critical that the receiving company’s CEO thought it was a “gold mine” it could use “to...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Collision at the Intersection of Construction and Intellectual Property Law: Are You Protecting Your Firm's Trade Secrets?

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The construction industry is full of valuable business information including customer lists, pricing information, project budgets, and more. The value of such information may be lost if it becomes known to a competitor or the...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

The Future of Non-Competes – What to Do Now

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

The proposed rule would only permit non-competes as part of the sale of a business –and then only when the restricted individual owns at least 25% of the entity being sold. The proposed rule permits non-solicitation...more

Genova Burns LLC

Federal Trade Commission Proposes Banning Noncompete Clauses

Genova Burns LLC on

On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed a radical and unprecedented rule that would prohibit employers from entering noncompete clauses with their workers. This follows the initiation of a landmark FTC...more

Roetzel & Andress

FTC Proposed Rule Would Ban Non-Competition Agreements

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On Thursday, January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a proposed rule that would invalidate existing non-competition agreements and prohibit employers from entering into new non-competition agreements,...more

Shutts & Bowen LLP

D.C.’s New Non-Compete Law

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The District of Columbia recently passed a new expansive law which bans most noncompetition agreements for employees in the District. The Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act (the “Act”) takes effect on October 1,...more

Dunlap Bennett & Ludwig PLLC

How to Protect Your Company’s Trade Secret

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Given the dire consequences a company can face once its valuable trade secrets are disclosed to competitors, companies must increasingly take steps to protect their trade secrets in order to remain competitive....more

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