Tag Archives: Defend Trade Secrets Act

Education comes at a price. But not this time. Beck Reed Riden is making available its Ten Minute Trade Secret Training Series videos freely available - and available for free. With the FTC rule banning noncompetes on the horizon and more states limiting the use of noncompetes, it is now more imperative than ever before that companies and employees take steps to protect their trade secrets, other confidential information, and customer relationships.
Over 50 percent of employees admit stealing company information when they leave for a new job. It’s this “insider threat” that keeps us up at night. To help combat it, we have updated and reissued our training, Protecting Trade Secrets While Working From Home, with improved audio and additional substance.
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.
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.
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.
As regular readers of this blog know, I focus on providing content, and don’t often suggest programs to attend. However, it just so happens that over the course of the next week, there are three programs that all provide some helpful insights, each in a different way. Take a look.