Category Archives: Trade Secrets
June 18, 2014
MA Gov. Wants State to Become Only the Fifth to Ban Non-Compete Agreements
Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Duval Patrick has submitted legislation that would make his only the fifth state in the nation to place an outright ban on employee non-compete agreements. The legislation is part of a larger package aimed to address the state’s competitiveness with other states with large-scale technology-based enterprises where non-competes are sometimes seen as […]
> read moreMay 9, 2014
Filing of Patent Can Act as Constructive Notice of Possible Trade Secret Breach
If someone in possession of another’s trade secrets files a patent application including those secrets, the application may be considered a sufficient notice of possible breach for the purpose of statutes of limitations. That appears to be the result of a recent ruling by the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California in […]
> read moreMay 6, 2014
Courts Seem Reluctant to Enforce Non-Compete Agreements Without ‘Troubling Facts’
The scenario is all too common. A top-level executive at a company is enticed by a competitor to take a similar role with it. An agreement is struck and the executive announces his intent to switch companies. Immediately his former company files a suit against him and the competitor charging any or all of breach […]
> read moreApril 10, 2014
Nebraska Court Puts Client List Protection Under a Cloud
A court in Nebraska has ruled that a client list that contains only data that could be obtained from other public sources may not be protected as a trade secret. The ruling, if adopted more broadly in other jurisdictions, could undo a long tradition of treating such lists as legitimate trade secret information. In First […]
> read moreApril 4, 2014
Considering a Business Relationship? About to Divulge Trade Secrets? Be Very Careful Drafting Your NDA
Traditionally, when two companies enter into negotiations intended to produce a partnership or a joint venture relationship, both parties will require non-disclosure agreements to protect any trade secrets it may divulge during the course of the deal-making discussions. But thanks to a ruling in an Illinois case late last year, the efficacy of the use […]
> read moreMarch 24, 2014
Protection of Trade Secrets Requires Pro-Active Effort, Less Reliance on “Inevitable Disclosure”
In a recent trade secrets case, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge issued a ruling that should serve as a stark reminder to all companies that rely on trade secrets to protect their vital business data and processes. In a related development, some recent cases in other jurisdictions have raised the question of whether it is […]
> read moreDecember 10, 2013
European Union Considering Consolidation of Patchwork of Trade Secret Laws
The European Union is in the early stages of creating a Union-wide law governing the protection of trade secrets. The new law, proposed Nov. 28 and at least a year from possible implementation, would replace a patchwork of individual state regulations and procedures governing trade secrets. This patchwork, observers say, makes the trade waters of […]
> read moreOctober 29, 2013
Bad Faith Applies to Continuing Baseless Suits, Court Rules
In the 47 states that have adopted The Uniform Trade Secrets Act, a plaintiff who files a lawsuit in bad faith for misappropriation of trade secrets can be ordered to pay the defendant’s attorney fees. Until recently, however, it wasn’t clear whether such a right extended to defendants against whom such a lawsuit was maintained […]
> read moreOctober 17, 2013
Network Access Responsible for 58% of Insider Theft of Trade Secrets, Study Finds
The theft of intellectual property and particularly of trade secrets has become an area of increasing concern among businesses in the past decade. In part, this appears to be due to the relative ease with which such information can be stolen over legitimate network access links. A study by the Insider Threat Lab of the […]
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