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Trade Secrets | Noncompetes

February 27, 2021

Fairly Competing, Episode 3: Protecting Trade Secrets – Hot Issues

Episode 3 of Fairly Competing is out! In this episode, Ben Fink, John Marsh, and I discuss employee surveillance and protecting legitimate business interests when an employee’s employment is terminated without cause.

February 26, 2021

New Edition of Negotiating, Drafting & Enforcing Noncompetition Agreements & Related Restrictive Covenants Now Out!

I am pleased to announce that the 6th edition of my book, Negotiating, Drafting & Enforcing Noncompetition Agreements & Related Restrictive Covenants, is now out!

February 26, 2021

Déjà vu all over again: The Workforce Mobility Act Redux

Another Congress, another federal noncompete bill: Four Senators and one Congressman have reintroduced a federal bill to ban all employee noncompetes.

February 4, 2021

Quick Update: D.C.’s Proposed Noncompete Ban Is Projected for March 19

As you may remember, the D.C. Council voted in December 2020 to ban noncompetes (in most instances) in the District. Well, it’s projected to become law (pending Congress’s approval) on March 19. If the bill goes through, it requires immediate affirmative conduct and carries potentially hefty fines for violations.

January 30, 2021

Montana allows noncompetes! (Only California, Oklahoma, and North Dakota don’t.)

People occasionally say that Montana prohibits employee noncompetes. It does not. Though the case law is relatively sparse, it is clear that Montana – unlike California, Oklahoma, and North Dakota – permits the use of narrowly tailored noncompetes.  

January 23, 2021

Fairly Competing – Episode 2: The Basics of Noncompete Law, and What Lies Ahead

Episode 2 of Fairly Competing is out! In this episode, Ben Fink, John Marsh, and I explain what noncompetes and other restrictive covenants are, how they are enforced, how the laws have been changing, and what legislative and regulatory changes companies and employees can expect to see on both the state and federal levels in the near … Continue reading Fairly Competing – Episode 2: The Basics of Noncompete Law, and What Lies Ahead

January 17, 2021

A Close Look at D.C.’s Coming Noncompete Ban – 4 Things to Know and Do Now

D.C. Mayor signed a bill to ban virtually all noncompetes for employees in D.C. It is likely to take effect in about a month, requires some affirmative conduct, and carries potentially hefty fines for violations. This is a law that you need to stay ahead of.

January 9, 2021

Fairly Competing Podcast Launched

Ben Fink, John Marsh, and I are pleased to announce the launch of Fairly Competing — a podcast providing in-depth analysis of trade secret law and the law of noncompetes and other restrictive covenants for a broad audience.

January 2, 2021

New Trade Secret and Noncompete Case Growth Graph (Updated January 2, 2021)

About twice a year, I update my chart of reported noncompete and trade secrets decisions. As regular readers of this blog know, a little over a decade ago, I became curious to see how many reported trade secret and noncompete decisions were issued each year in all of the federal and state courts around the country. So, I did a “back of the envelope” calculation. I have performed similar calculations every year since. Here is the latest.

January 1, 2021

Stuck at Home Doesn’t Have to Mean Bored at Home – Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! The pandemic has continued for 3/4 of a year and is looking like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, with vaccines now out and being distributed. The prospects for a truly happy New Year are looking good. So, this will be the last update to the Stuck at Home series.

December 16, 2020

47 states can be wrong, apparently: D.C. Council votes to ban (most) noncompetes

Despite the misinformation, despite that the last ban on noncompetes was in Oklahoma before it was a state, and despite that literally every state in the past decade to consider a ban has rejected it, the D.C. Council has yielded to the rhetoric and voted to ban noncompetes. Next step: the bill now sits with D.C.’s mayor.

December 8, 2020

3 Steps to Take Now To Protect Against President-elect Biden’s Proposed National (Partial) Ban on Noncompetes (Executive Summary Version)

A few days ago, I posted a long article on President-elect Biden’s proposed national partial ban of noncompetes and what to do about it: President Biden’s Proposed Ban of (Most) Noncompetes: Protection Strategies and Steps to Take Now.

To long? Here’s the summary.

December 7, 2020

47 states can’t be wrong: D.C. to ban noncompetes (maybe)

What concept did President Obama, President-elect Biden, and 47 states – including every single state to consider the issue in the past decade – reject? A ban on noncompetes.

What bill did the Council of the District of Columbia Committee on Labor & Workforce Development just vote to approve? Yep: a ban on noncompetes.

December 6, 2020

“Low-wage” employees are exempt from nine noncompete laws. But, who is a low-wage employee?

Nine states ban noncompetes for low-wage workers, yet, each state varies on the issue of who qualifies as a low-wage worker. This post discusses the standards applicable in each state.  

December 2, 2020

President Biden’s Proposed Ban of (Most) Noncompetes: Protection Strategies and Steps to Take Now

Protecting trade secrets, confidential business information, goodwill, and any other recognized legitimate business interests does not happen by accident. Companies need to plan. And, when one of the key tools is taken away (i.e., noncompetes), they need to look more closely at the remaining options to ensure they have the protections they need and that fit their circumstances. We discuss them in this post.

November 30, 2020

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Supreme Court Oral Argument is Today!

The split in the Circuits over the scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is up at the U.S. Supreme Court today. The issue: Whether a person who is authorized to access information on a computer for certain purposes violates Section 1030(a)(2) of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act if he accesses the same information for an improper purpose.

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