News & Analysis as of June 3, 2025

Corporate Counsel

+ Follow

A Trade Secret is any information, not generally known or easily ascertainable, by which an enterprise develops an economic advantage over competitors or customers. In order to maintain trade secrets' protected legal status, enterprises must make reasonable efforts to keep the information secret and prevent unnecessary disclosure. Trade Secrets may include processes, formulas, methods, designs, patterns, et cetera. less -

Coming Soon: Changes to State Noncompete Laws in Virginia, Arkansas, and Wyoming

ArentFox Schiff on 4/10/2025

Noncompete provisions continue to be governed by a constantly changing patchwork of state level legislation. In general, recent laws tend to limit their use among low wage earners or individuals in certain professions, such...more

Trade Secrets and Noncompete Agreements: Analysis of Significant Cases and Emerging Trends

ArentFox Schiff on 2/17/2025

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

2024’s Top Stories in Unfair Competition and Trade Secrets Law

Littler on 1/13/2025

2024 was quite a year in unfair competition and trade secrets law, with the Federal Trade Commission’s final rule on non-competes garnering widespread mainstream media attention. While the FTC final rule has been set aside...more

Delaware Supreme Court Upholds Forfeiture-for-Competition Provision in Limited Partnership Agreement

Jackson Lewis P.C. on 2/7/2024

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

The Year in Unfair Competition and Trade Secrets: 2023 Developments and What Is on the Horizon for 2024

Littler on 12/20/2023

2023 was an active year in the world of unfair competition and trade secrets law, with employers’ use of restrictive covenant agreements coming under assault at the Federal Trade Commission and National Labor Relations Board,...more

Workplace Law Forecast 2024 - Your workplace law recap for 2023 and predictions for 2024 to help you prepare for the coming year.

Fisher Phillips on 12/4/2023

When I reflect on the relationship that our firm has with our clients, I’m most proud of the fact that you can always count on us. That often means defending complex litigation, steering you through regulatory threats,...more

50 State Desktop Reference - What Businesses Need to Know about Non-Competes and Trade Secrets Law - 2023

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 11/8/2023

Introduction - As we enter a new era of business landscape dynamics, Seyfarth Shaw is pleased to present the latest edition of our annual cornerstone publication. This comprehensive 50-State Non-Compete Desktop Reference,...more

Golden State Crackdown on Non-Competes: California Enacts Second Non-Compete Law To Curtail Use of Non-Competes With Employees

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 10/19/2023

California has done it again! We reported last month concerning California’s new non-compete law that furthers the state’s protections for employee mobility and seeks to void out of state employee non-compete agreements....more

Poaching Employees Landed Generator Maker into Hot Water

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on 11/30/2022

In a recent trade secrets litigation in the United States District Court in the Northern District of California, a jury awarded the plaintiffs 40 million dollars, half of which was punitive damages. The Court also...more

Lessons from a Staffing Misappropriation and Non-Compete Trial

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 11/10/2022

Cases don’t try very often. Doubly so in trade secret/non-compete litigation. So many of these disputes get resolved at the injunctive relief phase of the proceeding that, when one goes the distance, it is almost always worth...more

Third Circuit Rejects Employer’s Attempt to Block Executive’s Move to Rival Despite Non-Compete Agreement

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP on 5/4/2022

As we have written about previously, an increasing number of states, and Washington, D.C., have limited the circumstances under which employers can bind their employees to non-compete and similar agreements, particularly when...more

Illinois Enacts Sweeping Reforms to Non-Compete and Non-Solicit Agreements - What All Employers Need To Know

BCLP on 6/21/2021

The Illinois General Assembly has enacted sweeping changes to the Illinois Freedom to Work Act, 820 ILCS § 90, et seq. (the “Act”), which will limit the use of covenants not to compete (“non-competes”) and covenants not to...more

Don’t Neglect Forum Selection and Choice of Law Provisions When Drafting or Litigating Restrictive Covenants

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP on 12/1/2020

Employment agreements with restrictive covenants typically contain both a forum selection clause, which determines the forum where a dispute must be heard, and a choice of law clause, which determines the law that applies to...more

[Virtual Event] Hot Employee Mobility Issues in the COVID-19 Era - November 12th, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm ET

Epstein Becker & Green on 10/29/2020

COVID-19 has not only created a plethora of workplace safety, accommodation, and leave issues, it has also created new employee mobility challenges for employers: - How can employers maintain the “trade secret” status of...more

The Impact of COVID-19-Related Factors on Courts’ Enforcement of Employee Post-Employment Restrictive Covenants

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP on 10/6/2020

In the best of economic times, some courts can be reluctant to grant immediate injunctive relief and enjoin an employee from working in order to enforce employee post-employment restrictive covenants. Now that we are in the...more

Top 10 Developments and Headlines in Trade Secret, Non-Compete, and Computer Fraud Law for 2019 & 2020

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 2/27/2020

Continuing our annual tradition, we have compiled our top developments and headlines for 2019 & 2020 in trade secret, non-compete, and computer fraud law. Here’s what you need to know to keep abreast of the ever-changing law...more

For The First Time, A Massachusetts Court Weighs In On The New Noncompetition Agreement Act – Well, Sort Of

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 3/1/2019

As we’ve previously written about on this blog, last summer the Massachusetts legislature passed a non-compete reform bill which went into effect on October 1, 2018. ...more

Employee Non-Solicitation Provisions Under Attack

Weintraub Tobin on 3/1/2019

Companies have a number of tools available to them to help protect their intellectual property, including trade secret and other proprietary information that give them a competitive advantage. Many employers utilize detailed...more

Unfair Competition: What Happened in 2018, and What's in Store for 2019

Littler on 2/11/2019

From sweeping legislation to unexpected case law, and everything in between, 2018 brought a lot of changes to unfair competition law....more

Another California Court Raises Doubts on Employee Non-Solicitation Provisions

Orrick - Trade Secrets Group on 2/11/2019

Last November, we discussed the potential impact of a recent California appellate court decision, AMN Healthcare, Inc. v. Aya Healthcare Services, Inc., 28 Cal. App. 5th 923 (2018), which called into question long-standing...more

Ninth Circuit Confirms “No Re-Hire” Clauses Can Constitute Unlawful Restraints Of Trade In California

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 10/2/2018

Back in 2015, we covered the divided holding of the Ninth Circuit in Golden v. California Emergency Physicians Medical Group, that a “no re-hire” provision in a settlement agreement could constitute a restraint of trade in...more

Massachusetts Legislature Passes Comprehensive Noncompetition and Trade-Secrets Reform

Foley & Lardner LLP on 8/9/2018

The Massachusetts General Court has passed legislation that, if signed by the governor, will comprehensively reform the law governing employee noncompetition agreements and trade-secret misappropriation. If enacted, these...more

New Jersey Proposes to Drastically Restrict the Use of Non-Compete Agreements

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP on 12/7/2017

Last month, the New Jersey State Senate introduced Senate Bill 3518 (the “Bill”), which, if passed, will severely restrict the use and enforceability of employee non-compete agreements in the state of New Jersey. Most...more

Is Customer Information A Trade Secret? Not So Fast!

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on 11/2/2017

Under what circumstances do customer information and business operations constitute “trade secrets” that may be enjoined from use by a former employee ? A recent decision by Justice Elizabeth H. Emerson on this issue serves...more

Courts Continue to Enforce Foreign Non-Competes in California While the Window for Such Agreements Slowly Closes

Orrick - Trade Secrets Group on 7/13/2017

Contrary to common perception, California employees who signed restrictive covenants prior to January 1, 2017 are not completely immune to enforcement of all restrictions on competition. For the second time in several years,...more

33 Results

View per page

Page: of 2

Trade Secrets › Restrictive Covenants › Corporate Counsel

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"