As we recently reported, Virginia recently joined Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Washington in passing a new law restricting the use of non-competes against low-wage earners (DC legislators made a similar...more
While it can be hard to remember in a world dominated by COVID-19 headlines, the wheels of justice have not stopped turning at the Supreme Court—even if Justices are now hearing argument remotely. ...more
On March 3, 2020, Massachusetts Premier Soccer LLC, doing business as Global Premier Soccer (“GPS”), filed a complaint in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, alleging that two of its former...more
3/17/2020
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Civil Conspiracy ,
Competition ,
Contests & Promotions ,
False Advertising ,
Lanham Act ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Soccer ,
Tortious Interference ,
Unfair Competition ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
In 2012, Peloton rode into the home fitness scene with its now ubiquitous at-home exercise bike, which features a tablet that allows riders to stream both live and pre-recorded classes while competing against other riders on...more
3/9/2020
/ Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inventions ,
Metadata ,
Misappropriation ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Proprietary Information ,
Software ,
Trade Secrets
For the first time in 15 years, the Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”), Massachusetts’ highest court, issued a decision analyzing the enforceability of non-solicitation covenants, the distinction between such covenants in the...more
2/5/2020
/ Business Disputes ,
Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Contract Drafting ,
Contract Negotiations ,
Contract Terms ,
Employment Contract ,
Equitable Tolling ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Legitimate Business Interest ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Shareholders ,
Tolling Agreement ,
Trade Secrets ,
Written Agreements
In an a recently published opinion, the Ninth Circuit answered the question whether “LinkedIn, the professional networking website, [may] prevent a competitor, hiQ, from collecting and using information that LinkedIn users...more
9/28/2019
/ Appeals ,
Cease and Desist ,
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) ,
Data Collection ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Irreparable Harm ,
LinkedIn ,
Preemption ,
Public Records ,
Split of Authority ,
Unauthorized Access ,
Web Scraping
A group of 18 state attorneys general (the “AGs”) recently filed comments with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) in advance of a series of hearings centered on changes to antitrust and consumer protection enforcement in...more
8/5/2019
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Franchises ,
Horizontal Agreements ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Labor Regulations ,
No-Poaching ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State and Local Government ,
State Attorneys General
In May, Seyfarth attorneys Katherine Perrelli, Robert Milligan, and Dawn Mertineit participated in the ITechLaw 2019 World Technology Conference in Boston....more
As we’ve previously written about on this blog, last summer the Massachusetts legislature passed a non-compete reform bill which went into effect on October 1, 2018. Readers of this blog will recall our concerns that the new...more
Washington state has joined the ranks of an ever-growing number of states that impose significant restrictions on employee non-compete agreements....more
5/15/2019
/ Confidential Information ,
Contract Terms ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
As readers of this blog know, most trade secret misappropriation claims are brought in civil complaints—but a recent case out of Pennsylvania reveals how quickly the tables can turn on a civil plaintiff asserting claims...more
4/25/2019
/ ADEA ,
Class Action ,
Confidential Information ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Employee Misconduct ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Misappropriation ,
Trade Secrets
Last week, the Ninth Circuit finally ruled that a former Anheuser-Busch employee cannot avoid claims filed by the brewer alleging misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of a nondisclosure agreement, the latest in a long...more
4/2/2019
/ Anheuser-Busch ,
Anti-SLAPP ,
Breach of Contract ,
Class Action ,
Former Employee ,
Free Speech ,
Misappropriation ,
Motion To Strike ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Proprietary Information ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Trade Secrets
As readers of this blog well know, there is a growing trend of state legislatures seeking to limit or outright ban non-competes....more
3/18/2019
/ Confidential Information ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
As we’ve previously written about on this blog, last summer the Massachusetts legislature passed a non-compete reform bill which went into effect on October 1, 2018. ...more
3/1/2019
/ Choice-of-Law ,
Confidential Information ,
Contract Terms ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employment Contract ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Popular ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Trade Secrets
A small, Chicago-based magnetic picture frame developer’s claims for trade secret misappropriation against a photo album manufacturer will be headed to trial after an Illinois federal district court largely denied the...more
Many companies assume that they need to choose between patent protections or trade secret protections for their intellectual property, thereby foregoing an important tool in their arsenal to protect key company assets....more
Readers of our blog will recall that this summer, the Massachusetts legislature passed a non-compete reform bill after nearly a decade of fruitless attempts. The new law goes into effect today, meaning that any agreements...more
10/1/2018
/ Confidential Information ,
Contract Terms ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Garden Leave ,
Hiring & Firing ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
This week, after close to a decade of “will they or won’t they” nail biters, the Massachusetts legislature finally passed a non-compete bill, just minutes before the end of the 2018 legislative session....more
8/3/2018
/ Choice-of-Law ,
Confidential Information ,
Employees ,
Employment Contract ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Garden Leave ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Misappropriation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Pending Legislation ,
Reformation ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
UTSA ,
Venue
In a classic example of bad facts creating bad law, a federal judge in Kentucky recently denied a motion to dismiss claims brought against attorneys who allegedly counseled employees to breach a non-compete agreement and...more
7/18/2018
/ Banking Sector ,
Breach of Contract ,
Breach of Duty ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Legal Advice ,
Legal Representatives ,
Misappropriation ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Pre-Employment Agreements ,
Tortious Interference ,
Trade Secrets ,
Wells Fargo
For the third year in a row, the Washington state legislature failed to pass non-compete legislation, declining to take action on two separate bills that would have severely restricted employers’ ability to enforce former...more
Last Friday, on January 20, 2017, the Massachusetts Legislature began its annual tradition of attempting to promulgate non-compete and trade secret reform in the Commonwealth. A new bill has been filed by the same legislators...more
In what has become a highly anticipated annual game of “Will They/Won’t They,” the Massachusetts legislature again failed to pass comprehensive noncompete reform legislation this year, despite much fanfare and high hopes from...more
According to The Boston Globe, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has publicly voiced his support for some restrictions on noncompete agreements, but he does not want to abolish them entirely. Specifically, Governor Baker...more
As we last reported, just a few weeks ago, the Massachusetts House of Representatives unanimously approved a non-compete bill that revised the original draft bill and addressed some of the business community’s concerns (such...more
As we previously reported, Massachusetts is making yet another go at non-compete reform, as the Joint Committee on Labor & Workforce Development introduced a compromise bill at the end of May that has many in the Commonwealth...more