Employment Law Now VIII-150 - The FTC Noncompete Rule is Dead: What Now?
Balch’s Decision Dive: Texas Trial Court Struck Down the FTC’s Noncompete Rule
5 Key Takeaways | Recent Developments in United States Trademark and Unfair Competition Law
The FTC Issued a New Rule to Ban All New Noncompete Agreements
3 Key Takeaways | New York State Bar Association IP Section Annual Meeting
Trade Secret Two-Step: Part 2
Trade Secret Two-Step: Part 1
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Trending Now: An IP Podcast - False and Misleading Advertising, Label Review
JONES DAY TALKS®: 75 Years of the Lanham Act and Changes in U.S. Trademark Law
On September 10, eight Democratic Senators urged the heads of the FTC and DOJ’s Antitrust Division to investigate certain generative AI features used by dominant online platforms that may violate competition laws. ...more
Contracts restraining competition by former employees and contractors have always faced enforcement headwinds, differing state-by-state in their strength and direction. California is most hostile; there, a statute purports to...more
Imagine that your company has just been sued by a competitor for patent infringement, deceptive advertising, unfair competition, or any number of other business torts. The news of the lawsuit has been reported in various...more
With further proceedings anticipated, and in light of the numerous state law restrictions on non-competes, employers should continue to act with caution when presenting employees with non-compete agreements. On August 20,...more
In this special 150th podcast episode, Michael Schmidt is joined by his Cozen O'Connor colleagues David Barron and Jim Gale to discuss what is left of the FTC noncompete rule, if anything, and what employers should be doing...more
The District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a decision striking down the Federal Trade Commission’s rule banning non-compete agreements, which was set to take effect on September 4, 2024....more
The Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) efforts to ban non-compete agreements was significantly curtailed when a federal judge in Texas, on August 20, 2024, issued a nationwide injunction, finding the FTC’s ban on non-compete...more
The Federal Trade Commission recently posted a notice on its website acknowledging that the federal court injunction issued in Texas will prevent implementation for now of its final regulations restricting use of...more
Hip-hop legends Outkast recently filed a lawsuit against an Atlanta-based EDM duo for trademark infringement and unfair competition over the use of the group’s name, “ATLiens.” Outkast claims it coined the term “ATLiens”...more
Employers can breathe a sigh of relief as a Texas federal judge set aside the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) impending ban on non-compete clauses. The FTC published a final rule banning all non-compete clauses with...more
If September 4, 2024, was circled on your calendar as the start of the federal government’s anti-restrictive covenant push into private employment contracts, hopefully it was in pencil. Last week, Judge Ada E. Brown of the...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in dismissing a trademark infringement matter under Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim, ruled that a district court “erroneously assumed the veracity” of the defendants’...more
On August 20, 2024, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, set aside the Federal Trade Commission’s “Non-Compete Rule” (the “Rule”). ...more
Last week, on the eve of the effective date of the FTC's ban on non-compete agreements, a Texas federal district court found that the agency had exceeded its authority in enacting the ban. The Court also explained that its...more
The structure of employment contracts is undergoing a seismic shift with the recent move by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to ban non-compete clauses. This landmark decision has the potential to reshape how businesses...more
A Texas court has set aside the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) Final Rule banning almost all non-compete clauses days before it was set to take effect on Sept. 4. Ryan LLC v. FTC, No. 3:24-CV-00986-E, 2024 U.S. Dist....more
The FTC’s national ban on non-compete agreements and related court challenges once again puts the spotlight on restrictive covenants and their continued viability in a variety of contractual scenarios. This interactive...more
In a recent legal dispute, Mahram v. The Kroger Co., a California Court of Appeal delivered a decision that may have implications for employment arbitration agreements. Although the case at hand involved a consumer...more
On July 30, 2024, the Court of Appeals of Virginia overturned a two billion dollar (yes, billion with a ‘b’) jury verdict in the Appian v. Pegasystems trade secret lawsuit. Although the Court of Appeals upheld the verdict of...more
California Attorney General (AG) Rob Bonta has settled with StubHub, Inc. (StubHub) for alleged violations of the Unfair Competition Law and False Advertising Law. The complaint accuses StubHub of making misleading statements...more
Following their publication on 6 May 2024 by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), China's new Interim Provisions on Anti-Unfair Competition on the Internet (in Chinese “网络反不正当竞争暂行规定”, the “Provisions”) will...more
On August 20, 2024, a federal court in the Northern District of Texas issued a nationwide injunction blocking a final rule issued earlier this year by the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”). This final rule would have put an...more
The ability of employers to legally enforce noncompetition restrictions received a big win last week when a federal court in Texas set aside the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Final Rule seeking to ban noncompete clauses...more
The Federal Trade Commission issued a rule that would act as a comprehensive ban on non-compete agreements. The ban would have taken effect next month, and would have invalidated non-compete provisions in millions of existing...more
On April 23, the FTC promulgated its final rule banning noncompetes nationwide. Originally published in Law360 - May 23, 2024....more