Employee non-compete agreements have long played an important role in employers’ ability to protect confidential and trade secret information. However, recognizing the distinct advantage employers often enjoy in negotiating…
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/ Labor & Employment Law
If you have seen any of our prior articles concerning the China Initiative, you know the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) is still focused on actively investigating individuals with ties to China who are suspected of trade…
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/ Intellectual Property
In a recent discovery dispute before the Northern District of California, Plaintiff Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (“Monolithic”) unsuccessfully attempted to bypass California Code of Civil Procedure section 2019.210 which…
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/ Civil Procedure, Intellectual Property
The U.S. Supreme Court recently resolved a circuit split regarding the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), specifically weighing in on the “exceeds authorized access” provision of the statute. The CFAA subjects to…
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/ Criminal Law, Labor & Employment Law, Science, Computers, & Technology
The trial of Xiaorang You (aka “Shannon You”)—the principal research engineer accused of stealing trade secrets from several companies, including Coca-Cola—began on April 6, 2021 in the Eastern District of Tennessee at…
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/ Intellectual Property
Last year, the California Supreme Court held in Ixchel Pharma, LLC v. Biogen, Inc., that restraints in contracts between businesses should be evaluated using the same “rule of reason” standard that courts use to analyze…
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/ Civil Procedure, Commercial Law & Contracts
A preliminary injunction motion recently filed in the Eastern District of Virginia paints a fascinating story of alleged trade secret theft by a direct competitor in the ultra-competitive field of gas turbines, and the fallout…
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/ Commercial Law & Contracts, Intellectual Property
In a recent decision, an Eastern District of Texas court conducted an analysis under Federal Rule of Evidence Rule 404(b) outside the criminal context to allow evidence of “other acts” in a trade secrets litigation. The…
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/ Civil Procedure, Intellectual Property
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a rise in fraud by wrongdoers seeking to profit off public panic and strained resources. One such example is asserted in the lawsuit filed by global health care company Abbott Laboratories…
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/ Intellectual Property, Labor & Employment Law
Often companies are faced with a dilemma in protecting their IP—should the company disclose its IP to the world and seek a patent that will protect its IP for a set number of years? Or, should the company keep the IP a secret…
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/ Civil Procedure, Intellectual Property, Science, Computers, & Technology
Trade secret protections are a powerful tool for companies seeking to police international theft of their intellectual property.
The United States International Trade Commission (“ITC”) recently re-affirmed this, when…
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/ Administrative Law, Civil Procedure, Intellectual Property, International Law & Trade, Science, Computers, & Technology
The most powerful tool capable of invalidating competitive restraints under California law is Business and Professions Code section 16600. That statute states that “[e]very contract by which anyone is restrained from engaging…
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/ Antitrust & Trade Regulation, Commercial Law & Contracts, Labor & Employment Law, Mergers & Acquisitions
The latest development in the Department of Justice’s “China Initiative” occurred earlier this month, as the DOJ unsealed an 11-count indictment charging two Chinese nationals with stealing hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth…
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/ Health, Intellectual Property, International Law & Trade, Privacy, Science, Computers, & Technology
Can defendants use anti-SLAPP statutes to dismiss meritorious trade secrets misappropriation lawsuits? A recent decision by the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas suggests not…
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/ Constitutional Law, Intellectual Property, Zoning, Planning & Land Use
The right to a jury trial is one of the most important features of modern trade secrets law. But as a recently issued Order from the Texas Fourth Court of Appeals (“Court of Appeals”) illustrates, the jury trial right is only…
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/ Civil Procedure, Intellectual Property
