Why Your Data is Key to Reducing Risk and Increasing Efficiency During Investigations and Litigation
The 'Secrets' of Trade Secrets in Government Contracting
Does Cellular 5G Equal 5x the Fraud and Misconduct Risk?
On-Demand Webinar | Protecting Information in a Work-From-Home World
Coronavirus and the workplace (Housebound edition)
30 million is a BIG number! That is the estimated number of employment contracts that could be impacted by the Federal Trade Commission’s new rule banning non-competes, if it goes into effect on September 4, 2024, as...more
Continuing our series on electric vehicle (EV) trade secret litigation, see here and here, a California judge has tentatively given Tesla the green light to proceed with a trial against rival Rivian in March of 2025. This...more
The rise in trade secrets litigation in the electric vehicle (“EV”) sector continues with Tesla filing another lawsuit: this time against its own equipment supplier. On June 14, 2024, Tesla filed a complaint in the Northern...more
As we all await rulings on the lawsuits challenging the FTC’s Noncompete Rule (one of which may be decided later today), we provide an update on the Knicks/Raptors trade secret case that we previously discussed on EBG’s...more
Electric car sales in 2023 were 3.5 million higher than in 2022, a 35% increase in one year. The rise in demand for electric vehicles (“EVs”) has prompted many companies to enter the EV battery space. Given the rapid...more
Zunum Aero, Inc. v. The Boeing Company et al., No. 2:21-CV-00896-JLR, (W.D. Wash. May 30, 2024) - A Washington jury recently issued a $72 million verdict in favor of Zunum Aero Inc. (“Zunum”), a now-defunct aerospace...more
On April 23, 2024, in a move that will have significant ramifications for employment contracts and intellectual property (IP) rights, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a rule banning all future noncompete agreements...more
Like most states, North Carolina law protects employers from misappropriation of confidential and proprietary trade secrets. Last month, the North Carolina Business Court (a division of the Superior Court that handles complex...more
With the issuance of the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC or Commission) much-anticipated final rule on its "non-compete ban" (see Holland & Knight's previous alert, "New FTC Rule Bans Non-Compete Agreements in All Employment...more
Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and other products, recently filed a lawsuit in a California state court against a former vice president for allegedly taking confidential information from Meta...more
Plaintiff zvelo is a Colorado-based organization that has developed a database of category-based website URLs that is incorporated into various network security and web filtering vendor offerings....more
Are customer/client lists protectable trade secrets in Arkansas? It depends. Answering this question involves looking closely at the facts and circumstances of each situation. There is some case law examining the legal...more
Trade secrets have become a de facto intellectual property right for securing valuable artificial intelligence information. Despite regulatory trends toward greater transparency of AI models, federal policy acknowledges,...more
Last year, the New York Knicks initiated formal legal proceedings against the Toronto Raptors and several affiliated coaches, alleging the illicit procurement of sensitive materials. The Knicks claimed that Ikechukwu Azotam,...more
Patents are increasingly being used to protect innovation in the food technology space. Food technology companies should carefully decide whether to use patents or trade secrets to protect their proprietary assets. ...more
Generally, an employer owns all rights in software code created by its employee in the scope of their employment. As outlined in the last edition of this series, this general rule typically applies to independent contractors...more
A Minnesota federal court denied cookie dough franchisor Cookie Dough Bliss Franchising’s motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against a former Minnesota franchisee and its owners....more
A Utah federal judge denied cookie franchisor Crumbl an injunction preventing its competitor, Dirty Dozen, from opening new locations while litigation between the two franchisors was pending....more
The New York Knicks just sued their former employee and his new employer, the Toronto Raptors, in a case that can teach employers a lot about trade secret misappropriation. The August 21 lawsuit accuses their Eastern...more
At the beginning of the pandemic, concerns were raised that trade secret misappropriation might take a new form. Indeed, with large swaths of the workforce working from home, spouses, roommates, or others living in the same...more
Can you still have noncompete agreements with your employees? What if you explicitly state that the agreement protects trade secrets or other proprietary information? There has been a lot of buzz about this issue, and...more
In Vicarious Surgical Inc. v. Beth Tragakis, Judge Salinger, sitting in the Massachusetts Business Litigation Session, dismissed a robotics company’s Chapter 93A claim for lack of any allegations that the robotics company was...more
In a recent memorandum to all Regional Directors, Officers-in-Charge, and Resident Officers, the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) General Counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, sets forth her view that the proffer, maintenance,...more
An Ohio appellate court upheld the state trial court’s decision to grant a permanent injunction against two former franchisees of an auto body shop franchise working for a competitor in violation of the franchise agreement’s...more
Two months ago, the National Labor Relations Board (the Board) changed the rules for confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses in severance agreements. In McLaren Macomb, 372 NLRB No. 58 (2023), which we previously wrote...more