We recently updated our “Ten Minute Training” series video, Protecting Trade Secrets - Working at Home. The need for this type of training has never been so compelling. Just look at Smash My Trash, LLC.
You’ve heard the warnings: Set your Zoom settings to require a new ID for each meeting, require a password for entry, put people in waiting rooms, etc. Well, it actually matters – and not just in theory, but in real life. Let us know if you would like our free training video.
As many of you know, I am very involved with the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s Trade Secret Law Committee. And, as you may also know, each year, we hold a multi-day, in-depth pro...
Once again, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Murphy are pushing for federal regulation of noncompetes. By way of background, starting in 2015, a few U.S. Senators (Senators Warren and Murphy inc...
We recently prepared a “Ten Minute Training” video for companies to distribute to their employees to help minimize the risks posed to trade secrets as a result of so much of the workforce working...
About twice a year, I update my chart of reported noncompete and trade secrets decisions. Here is the latest. As regular readers of this blog know, several years ago, I became curious to see how m...
Hope for the best, plan for the worst. - John Jay The ability to protect trade secrets (and other legitimate business interests, including customer goodwill) has been hit by a perfect storm caused b...
The identification of trade secrets in misappropriation litigation is a critically important and evolving area of trade secret law. Not surprisingly, it is the subject of widely divergent and conflict...
The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act deems certain uses of a computer to be unlawful (civilly and criminally). But, the Act is not the picture of clarity. The language that has created the most...
This seems to be the month for unicorns. In the past 30 days, we have had three. First, there was the trademark case – literally about unicorns. Then, the First Circuit gave us rare insight i...
With the continuing unfolding of the COVID19 pandemic, I remain particularly focused on identifying resources that I hope will be helpful to people while they try to cope with the new reality (hence t...
The FTC conducted its first workshop on noncompetes on January 9, 2020. An opportunity for the public to submit comments remains open until March 11, which is only two weeks away. I attended the wo...
Hello all, just a quick note, we are just under a month away from the AIPLA's 2020 Trade Secret Law Summit, truly one of the premier trade secrets programs. The Summit is scheduled for Monday, Marc...
Happy New Year! On January 9, 2020, the FTC will be holding a hearing (at 8:30 a.m. at the FTC’s Headquarters Building, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC) “to examine whether there is...
Leaving your job? No problem. Going to a competitor? No problem (maybe). Taking stuff that doesn’t belong to you? Problem - definitely. Companies are particularly sensitive the misappropria...
It’s hard these days to keep up with the the changing noncompete laws around the country. My most recent post covering recent updates, from not even quite six months ago, is already outdated. Jus...
With three-plus years of Defend Trade Secrets Act (the "DTSA") law under our belts and almost a year of the "new" Massachusetts new trade secrets law, my new book, Trade Secrets Law for the Massachus...
The other day, I was listening to 1970’s and 80’s music (which I am wont to do, much to my wife’s chagrin). The music, as music often does, evoked memories of the past. Think what you...
It turns out that global climate change is caused by a decrease in the number of pirates. Don’t believe it? See the chart to the right. This is an example of mistaking correlation for causati...
On June 24, 2019, the United States Supreme Court issued its much-awaited decision in Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media, addressing the intersection of trade secrets law and the Freedom...
Who controls what's in your brain? When a former employee knows his or her former employer’s trade secrets, the former employer may be able to obtain injunctive relief preventing the employee, not...
It's been a while since I've had the time to update the Changing Trade Secrets | Noncompete Laws page. Lots has happened in the interim - see below for all of the updates so far this year. I will...
Back in July, I posted a story about how courts and lawyers frequently assess whether a noncompete is overly broad by asking whether the restriction would prevent the employee from working as a janit...
This is an update to reflect the adoption by Massachusetts of its own version of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act. The background: Until now, every state but Massachusetts and New York had ado...