The plaintiff National Recovery Agency Group, LLC (NRA) is a debt-collection firm that maintains large volumes of personally identifiable information (PII) of individual debtors....more
On August 12, the Ninth Circuit in Quintara Biosciences, Inc. v. Ruifeng Biztech, Inc. held that the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) does not require a plaintiff to identify its allegedly misappropriated trade secrets with...more
Wu-Tang Clan produced a single physical copy of the album “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” which was never publicly released. In 2015, Martin Shkreli purchased the album....more
The plaintiff, John Snyder, worked for a life insurance company from December 2006 to August 2016....more
Dr. David Spiegel, a Yale University professor, developed a new approach to targeted protein degradation using MODA technology (bi-functional synthetic molecules for degrading extracellular proteins)....more
Protecting trade secrets in the beverage and food industry requires planning and forethought from the outset of product development. Attempting after the fact to plug the holes in the company’s safeguards can be the path to a...more
The court held that the statute of limitations began to run from the date when a former employee produced confidential company financial during discovery in an unrelated matter, and not from the earlier date when the former...more
This case is an important reminder that in trade secrets litigation, the specific business context is critically important and may be outcome determinative. Here, a closely held business was held to a much more lenient...more
7/29/2025
/ Business Disputes ,
Business Entities ,
Business Litigation ,
Business Ownership ,
Damages ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Injunctions ,
Investors ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Trade Secrets ,
Unfair Competition
On July 1, the Florida Contracts Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality, and Economic Growth (CHOICE) Act took effect, positioning Florida as one of, if not the most, employer-friendly states in noncompete and...more
Across all industries, private companies, family offices, and their owners and management teams face rapidly evolving challenges, opportunities, and risks in the dynamic environment that is 2025. Here are 11 issues that...more
3/10/2025
/ Acquisitions ,
Arbitration ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Business Succession ,
Buy-Sell Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Compliance ,
Connelly v United States ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Data Privacy ,
E-Commerce ,
Estate Planning ,
Estate-Tax Exemption ,
Ethics ,
Family Businesses ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FinCEN ,
Form I-9 ,
Generation-Skipping Transfer ,
Gift-Tax Exemption ,
Immigration ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Immigration Procedures ,
IRS ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Limited Partnerships ,
Mergers ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Privately Held Corporations ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Risk Management ,
SCOTUS ,
State Legislatures ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Terms of Use ,
Valuation
Trade secrets, noncompetes, and other restrictive covenants continued to make headlines in 2024. Most notably, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a final rule imposing a near total ban on employee noncompetes that...more
On October 7, Jennifer Abruzzo, General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), issued a memorandum reinforcing her stance that most post-employment noncompete agreements violate Section 7 of the National Labor...more
On August 20, the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas held that the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) final rule banning noncompetes is unlawful and “set aside” the rule. “The Rule shall not be enforced or...more
On July 3, the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a decision and order enjoining the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from enforcing its final rule banning most noncompete agreements....more
On April 23, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 3-2 to publish a final rule with sweeping effect, purporting to bar prospectively and invalidate retroactively most employee noncompete agreements....more
On April 30, the Federal Register announced that the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Non-Compete Clause Rule is scheduled to be published on May 7. The Rule becomes effective 120 days after publication, resulting in an...more
As discussed in our recent alerts, the final rule would bar employers from entering into and enforcing noncompetes with most workers.
ArentFox Schiff’s Trade Secrets, Noncompetes & Employee Mobility Team has been...more
4/30/2024
/ Audits ,
Confidential Information ,
Federal Bans ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Nonprofits ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Trade Secrets
Today, the Federal Trade Commission adopted a final rule purporting to ban noncompete covenants for workers nationwide, which will become effective 120 days after publication in the Federal Register, unless first enjoined in...more
4/24/2024
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Federal Bans ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
FTC Act ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
U.S. Commerce Department
On April 16, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it will hold a special Open Commission Meeting on Tuesday, April 23 at 2:00 p.m. ET, for purposes of voting on its proposed final rule banning noncompete...more
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
3/13/2024
/ Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Contract Terms ,
Cybersecurity ,
Damages ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employment Contract ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Former Employee ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
New Legislation ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State Labor Laws ,
Trade Secrets
2023 was a pivotal year for the emerging companies, creating new categories of winners and losers across the board. Emerging companies incorporating artificial intelligence or that have clear line of sight to positive cash...more
2/20/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Corporate Executives ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Down Rounds ,
Early Stage Companies ,
Emerging Growth Companies ,
Entrepreneurs ,
Estate Planning ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financing ,
FinCEN ,
FTC Endorsement Guidelines ,
Funding ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Investors ,
Mergers ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Proposed Rules ,
Ransomware ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Social Media ,
Startups ,
The Copyright Act ,
Venture Capital ,
Wage and Hour ,
Websites
2023 was a pivotal year for the beverage and food industry globally, creating new categories of winners and losers across the board. With a full year of operations largely relieved of pandemic-era restrictions, restaurant...more
2/15/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Beverage Manufacturers ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Estate Planning ,
Food Manufacturers ,
Investors ,
Mergers ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Ransomware ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Social Media ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
New York’s potential ban of non-competition agreements was curtailed by Governor Kathy Hochul. In June 2023, the state legislature passed a bill calling for a broad prohibition on non-competes. But in December 2023, the...more
New York, a state with a GDP larger than most sovereign nations, is on the brink of a significant change to its employment landscape. It may soon join the four other states that have banned employee non-compete agreements....more
Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed a rule that would, with limited exceptions, bar employers from using employee non-compete agreements and require rescission of existing non-compete agreements....more