On March 7, 2025, lawyers for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed motions requesting a 120-day stay of the agency’s appeal of district court decisions in the Fifth Circuit and Eleventh Circuit, which had blocked the...more
As Republicans regain control of the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) under the Trump-Vance Administration, employers that looked to maintain and enforce their non-compete agreements with employees may have found solace in...more
3/10/2025
/ Competition ,
Employees ,
Employment Contract ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Labor Reform ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Trump Administration ,
Unfair Competition
Last year’s Commercial Litigation Outlook was dominated by the promise and peril that AI poses to myriad industries. No doubt, the evolution of AI in the last year has been significant, and it is still a material...more
2/28/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Class Action ,
Commercial Litigation ,
Competition ,
Data Privacy ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Innovation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Legal Technology ,
Machine Learning ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Risk Management ,
Securities Regulation ,
Technology Sector
In 2024, Seyfarth’s Trade Secrets, Computer Fraud & Non-Compete practice group presented a series of dynamic and insightful CLE webinars, addressing pivotal challenges confronting businesses head-on. ...more
1/3/2025
/ Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Contract Terms ,
Employee Mobility ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Trade Secrets
Once again surprising the country by acting ten days before her own self-appointed deadline, a federal judge in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a ruling on August 20 in the Ryan v....more
8/21/2024
/ Arbitrary and Capricious ,
Competition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
FTC Act ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Unfair Competition
While the two federal actions in Texas challenging the FTC’s non-compete ban have garnered much of the attention to date, a challenge of the FTC’s rule brought by a small tree trimming business in Pennsylvania is now in the...more
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
5/1/2024
/ Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Labor Reform ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Popular ,
Restrictive Covenants
On April 23, 2024, the FTC announced its Final Non-Compete Clause Rule (“Final Rule”), which bans post-employment non-compete clauses between employers and their workers. The Final Rule becomes effective 120 days after being...more
4/25/2024
/ Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Contract Terms ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
FTC Act ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Labor Reform ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently set its sights squarely on non-compete agreements in merger transactions, making them ripe for further scrutiny. In a Consent Order issued June 14, 2022, the FTC ordered GPM...more
In a case following a familiar trade-secret set of facts, on April 28, 2020, the Texas First District Court of Appeals in Houston reversed the trial court’s grant of a motion to dismiss under the Texas Citizens Participation...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: A recent case out of the Court of Appeals in Houston, Texas highlights the challenges in proving liability against a third-party competitor for knowing participation in breach of duty of loyalty/fiduciary...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Knowledge that a competitor or former employee is misappropriating trade secrets is difficult to come by. At the same time, however, once a company has notice that misappropriation may be occurring, the...more
12/4/2019
/ Appeals ,
Children's Toys ,
Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Counterclaims ,
Former Employee ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Mattel ,
MGA Entertainment ,
Misappropriation ,
Misrepresentation ,
Preservation of Rights ,
Retail Market ,
State and Local Government ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Time-Barred Claims ,
Trade Secrets ,
Uniform Trade Secrets Acts
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