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
8/30/2024
/ Federal Bans ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Florida ,
FTC Act ,
Injunctions ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Lack of Authority ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Statutory Authority ,
Texas ,
Unfair Competition
Following the national trend toward prohibiting or limiting non-compete agreements, Louisiana Senate Bill 165 limits the length and geographical scope of non-compete agreements for both specialty and primary care physicians....more
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has signed the “Fair Contracting for Health Care Practitioners Act” (House Bill 1633), which restricts the ability of employers and healthcare practitioners to enter into non-compete...more
On July 3, 2024, as anticipated, U.S. District Judge Ada Brown of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted Plaintiffs’ and Plaintiff-Intervenors’ motion to stay and preliminarily enjoin the effective...more
Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee signed a new law (R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-34-50) that prohibits the enforcement of non-competition agreements with advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) in the state on June 17, 2024....more
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its final rule prohibiting all non-compete agreements for all employees at all levels, with only extremely limited exceptions. The FTC’s much-anticipated action...more
Maine Governor Janet Mills has vetoed legislation that would have severely restricted the contexts in which Maine employers could use and enforce non-compete agreements. The bill, LD 1496, would have significantly hampered...more
Stemming a tide of Delaware decisions closely scrutinizing and refusing to enforce non-compete agreements, Delaware’s Supreme Court held that forfeiture-for-competition provisions arising out of a Delaware limited partnership...more
In October 2023, California’s Governor signed Assembly Bill (AB) 1076 which added the new Business & Professions Code §16600.1, making it unlawful to impose non-compete clauses on employees – which contractual restrictions...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed a paradigm-breaking rule that would ban essentially all non-compete agreements. If enacted, this rule would purport to override tens of millions of contracts in every sector of...more
2/8/2023
/ Antitrust Division ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employment Contract ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Joe Biden ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Popular ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Unfair Competition
A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators has reintroduced a bill, dubbed the “Workforce Mobility Act of 2023,” that would largely ban the use of employer non-compete agreements nationwide as a matter of federal law. This follows...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed a new rule that, if made final, would (at least on its face) effectively prohibit non-compete agreements other than in very limited circumstances....more
1/11/2023
/ Confidential Information ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Functionality ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Notice Requirements ,
OIRA ,
OMB ,
Proposed Rules ,
Rescission ,
Section 5 ,
Unfair Competition
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to broadly ban the use of non-compete covenants throughout the country.
The proposed rule, which would supersede all contrary state laws, is...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) hosted a virtual workshop on December 6-7, 2021, bringing together agency representatives, lawyers, economists, academics, and other experts to discuss...more
12/23/2021
/ Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employment Contract ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joe Biden ,
NLRA ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Sherman Act ,
Trade Secrets ,
Unfair Competition
Earlier this month, President Joseph Biden issued an Executive Order encouraging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to “curtail the unfair use of non-compete clauses and other clauses or agreements that may unfairly limit...more
In the latest step toward federal regulation of non-compete agreements, President Joe Biden has issued a wide-ranging Executive Order that, among many other competition-focused objectives, encourages the Federal Trade...more
There have been whispers of federal regulation of non-compete agreements for years. Multiple bipartisan bills aiming to ban non-competes have fallen to the wayside without traction. The Federal Trade Commission hosted a...more
It’s not every day the U.S. Supreme Court issues an opinion relevant to this blog, so we are understandably excited when it does.
In a landmark decision, the Court has ruled that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA),...more
In a landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), 18 U.S.C. § 1030 et seq., does not prohibit improper use of computer information to which an individual has authorized...more
The Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”), 18 U.S.C. § 1836, et seq., is approaching its fifth anniversary after being signed into law by President Barack Obama on May 11, 2016. To celebrate, we are highlighting some of the...more
3/10/2021
/ Barack Obama ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Electronic Devices ,
Ex Parte ,
Motion To Seal ,
Public Disclosure ,
Restraining Orders ,
Search & Seizure ,
Search Warrant ,
Trade Secrets ,
US Marshals Service
The District of Columbia appears poised to join the growing number of nearby states regulating and limiting restrictive covenant agreements in the employment context...more
A federal district court has denied a motion to temporarily restrain an employee laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic from competing against his former employer. Schuylkill Valley Sports, Inc. v. Corporate Images Co., No....more
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether it is a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) when an individual who is authorized to access information on a computer accesses the same information for an...more
The use of non-competition agreements between employers and employees has raised concerns at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). On January 9, 2020, the agency held a program “to examine whether there is a sufficient legal...more
Restrictive covenant matters rarely make it through the appellate courts. This is true for a number of reasons, including the fact that the time-sensitive nature of restrictive covenant litigation often compels parties to...more