Ten states now have wage thresholds or other criteria that must be satisfied before a noncompete can be used. Are your noncompetes ready?
The thought of trade secrets tends to conjure up images of cloak and dagger operations, secret laboratories, the secret formula to Coca-Cola, Google’s search algorithm, and the like. But trade secre...
Legislative activity is picking up again, and therefore so are we. This year, there have been a total of 67 noncompete bills in 22 states,1 plus four pending federal noncompete bills and a bill t...
As you will recall, 37 states — i.e., more than 3/4 of all states — have been taking a hard look at their noncompete laws in the past several years, with 24 states, plus D.C., making changes....
You hired someone from a competitor. You’re excited. They’re excited. But you may have bought yourself a lawsuit. Can you avoid it? Maybe.
Starting on January 1, the compensation thresholds below which noncompetes cannot be used for employees in each of Illinois, Oregon, and Washington will increase. Specifically, in Illinois noncomp...
As noted in our post, Ask 70 Trade Secret Lawyers and Paralegals about Noncompetes and Get One Opinion, the FTC and DOJ encouraged the submission of public comments following the “Making Competiti...
Happy holidays! Episode 13 of Fairly Competing is out! In this episode, John, Ben, and Russell take a look back on some of the more significant developments in trade secret and restrictive coven...
Once again, we have resounding unanimity on the issues and recommendations to the FTC and DOJ, as they consider whether to regulate (and if so, how) noncompetes, nondisclosure agreements, and other restrictive covenants. 70 lawyers who practice extensively in the area of trade secret and restrictive covenant law agree: federal regulation is likely inappropriate, definitely premature, and, in any event, should be limited.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) just completed their second workshop on competition.[1] Noncompetes are again squarely in the crosshairs. Here is what you need to know and what you need to do.
The FTC's and DOJ’s December 6 and 7 Virtual Public Workshop Exploring Competition in Labor Markets is almost here, and the agenda has been released. While it’s quite possible that noncompete...
Thanksgiving seemed like a good time to address civility. Yes, I know the topic seems a bit unrelated to the subject matter I usually cover here, but bear with me, it is directly relevant. In fa...
As we await the FTC and DOJ’s December 6 and 7 Virtual Public Workshop Exploring Competition in Labor Markets, it’s important to know that on November 12, the FTC posted a draft Strategic Plan fo...
The fun never ends. Apparently two days ago (November 3, 2021), a bill (the “Employment Freedom for All Act”) was introduced in the House by U.S. Congresswoman Claudia Tenney to “void existi...
Were you wondering where Wyoming stands on a potential noncompete ban? You won’t find it on the legislature’s website or Legiscan. But, as it turns out, Wyoming is considering a ban, as well as a more limited restriction.
No one ever points to North Dakota’s or Oklahoma’s ban on noncompete as producing a thriving tech sector, because they haven’t. Yet, somehow think that the same ban in California is why we have Silicon Valley. This assumption is wrong for multiple reasons. Worse, it leads to poor policy.
The FTC and DOJ will be hosting a two-day workshop on December 6 and 7 covering, among other things, the use of noncompetes and NDAs.
Episode 12 of Fairly Competing is out! In this episode, Ben Fink, John Marsh, and I explore Wisk Aero LLC v. Archer Aviation Inc., an extremely well-reasoned decision offering an object lesson about preliminary injunctions in trade secret cases, highlighting that it’s no longer safe to assume you will get a preliminary injunction simply because a former employee downloaded 5,000 documents — even if he invokes the 5th Amendment.
“Non-compete agreements that are unreasonable as to temporal length, subject matter, and/or geographic scope will be found to violate both federal and state antitrust laws.”
That’s new — especially because it’s from Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Christine Wilson.
But, at the end, Commissioner Wilson observed, “The elected officials in each state are best situated to weigh the costs and benefits of non-competes and make decisions tailored to the unique circumstances in their jurisdictions. . . . A federal solution at this time is premature.”
That’s new — especially because it’s from Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Christine Wilson.
But, at the end, Commissioner Wilson observed, “The elected officials in each state are best situated to weigh the costs and benefits of non-competes and make decisions tailored to the unique circumstances in their jurisdictions. . . . A federal solution at this time is premature.”
As we look at recent developments in noncompete regulatory efforts at the state and federal levels, it’s good to have a quick reminder of how we got here. We’ll take a quick tour of noncompete regulation from the Middle Ages to now.
The ULC officially released the Uniform Restrictive Employment Agreement Act. A tremendous amount of work went into developing it. Take a read and see what you think.
Contracts containing restrictive covenants (noncompetes, nonsolicitation agreements, and the like) have been the province of state regulation for over 200 years. However, starting in 2015, the federal government has been stepping into the breach through proposed legislation (most recently two bills to ban all employee noncompetes and one to amend the FLSA to ban noncompetes for nonexempt workers), FTC review (starting with a workshop in January 2020), and an Executive Order (on July 9, 2021) “encouraging” the FTC to “curtail the unfair use of non-compete clauses . . . .” While that’s not news, what is news is that earlier this week (September 14, 2021), the FTC issued a public statement that — if it is as broad as it appears — seems to presume that the FTC has authority to regulate these types of contracts.
We’re nearing three years to the day that the Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act has been in effect. While we have only two decisions so far that provide any insight into some of the more thorny questions about the statute, we seem to be on the cusp of getting at least one new data point.
As regular readers of this blog know, I focus on providing content and rarely suggest educational programs to attend. However, given that CLE programs are still remote and can be hard to identify, I t...