Trade secrets, noncompetes, and other restrictive covenants continued to make headlines in 2024. Most notably, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a final rule imposing a near total ban on employee noncompetes that was immediately, and successfully, challenged in court. The FTC’s rulemaking and subsequent litigation challenge last year may have contributed in part to the slowdown of attempts to enact new noncompete legislation at the state level.
But trade secrets and noncompetes continued to be the subject of a large volume of litigation, with significant verdicts — in the hundreds of millions of dollars — being handed down to cap out the year. Against this backdrop, and with a change of Presidential Administration adding to the in-flux legal landscape for employee restrictive covenants in the United States, companies should remain vigilant to ensure that they have trade secret protection plans that are accurate, agile, and enforced in 2025.
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