More and more studies are being conducted about the impact of noncompetes on the economy, including in particular on startups, employee mobility, and innovation. Two relatively recent studies, sug...
In anticpation of speaking at the Boston Bar Association’s 15th Annual Intellectual Property Year in Review earlier this month, I prepared a paper discussing a number of the developments in trad...
Several bills concerning trade secrets and noncompetes were filed this week in the Massachusetts legislature. On trade secrets side, the following bills were filed: H.2569 by Representatives Bradle...
On September 17, the Trade Secrets Protection Act of 2014 was reported out of committee with several amendments from the version that was submitted to committee. It has a 57% chance of enactment.
It's that time of year again. With the elections behind us and the next legislative session coming soon, a new version of a proposed Uniform Trade Secrets Act has been filed in Massachusetts. (This v...
In a surprising turn of events last week, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced that he was reintroducing legislation to modify Masschusetts noncompete law and to adopt a version of the Unifo...
While it was close this year, in the end, there was no legislative reform of either Massachusetts noncompete law or Massachusetts trade secrets law. I expect, however, that Senator Will Brownsberge...
Progress in the Massachusetts State House: On Tuesday, July 1, the latest version of the Massachusetts Noncompete Bill (the latest version of the bill that I had drafted for Senator Will Brownsbe...
Tomorrow - Thursday, May 29 at 1:00 PM in room A-1 - the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies will be holding a public hearing on Governor Patrick's economic development...
On April 29, the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development favorably reported out a bill (available here) very close to Governor Patrick’s proposed adoption of...
As you likely have seen (here for example), the Patrick Administration has spent a great deal of time putting together comprehensive proposed legislation designed to promote growth and opportunity in...
This past week, the Boston Bar Association held its 14th annual Intellectual Property Year in Review. I covered trade secrets (including related restrictive covenants). Below is a summary of those dev...
A few years ago, I became curious to see how many reported trade secret / noncompete decisions were issued each year in all federal and state courts around the country. So, I did a “back of the enve...
The BRR 50 State Noncompete Chart has been updated to reflect various changes in statutory or case law, as well as clarifications of existing laws. Click here to get the latest version. ...
It's not every day that you get quoted in the WSJ - but today was one of those days (so, I can't resist mentioning it). Here are the details: The article, “Companies Loosen the Handcuffs on Non-...
Last night, we had our 5th Annual Symposium on Employee Non-Compete Agreements, Trade Secrets and Job Creation. Following that discussion, I spoke with Representative Lori Ehrlich about the status of...
UPDATE/CORRECTION (7/17/2013): It turns out that I had been mistaken about this. The various reports that the governor had signed the bill were incorrect. The bill had only made its way to the governo...
Last week (on June 20, 2013), Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Mike Doyle (D-PA), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), and Jared Polis (D-CO) introduced a new (bipartisan) version...
In February 2013, the Obama Administration issued Administration Strategy on Mitigating the Theft of U.S. Trade Secrets. Part of that plan included the Administration's solicitation of public comment...
True to the unfortunate limit of 24 hours in a day, my posts continue to written during my vacations. This time, given the extended delay between vacations, and therefore posts on issues and cases mak...
I am thrilled to announce that I have been given the opportunity to work with two of my favorite (though far more prolific) bloggers, Ken Vanko and John Marsh, to create a brand new podcast: Fairly Co...
There is a new noncompete bill in Massachusetts. (Jump to the end for the details.) It is not yet docketed, however, so I do not have an official version to post at this time. Those following the M...
I am a little late to the party here, but following my post, Economic Espionage Act Bill Passes Senate, But Can Be Improved, about the Senate's passage of the Theft of Trade Secrets Clarification Ac...
Many of us have been hopeful that with the deep split in the circuits (the 4th and 9th with their narrow interpretation versus the 1st, 5th, 7th, 11th, with their broad interpretation) on the reac...