Trade Secrets and Confidential Information

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For any attorney about to rush into New York State court to seek an injunction or temporary relief with regard to a violation of a non-compete or other restrictive covenant, or with regard to misappropriation of trade secrets, think again about venue.

By Administrative Order, dated March 22, 2020, Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks has decreed that until further notice, New York State courts are accepting no filings unless the filings concern an emergency matter (as defined in the Order’s Exhibit A).  Neither restrictive covenant nor trade secret matters count as “emergencies.”

This Order thus effectively bars the initiation…
Continue Reading Coronavirus Freezes Most Litigation Filings in New York State Courts, So Look Elsewhere for TROs and Preliminary Injunctions

We encourage our readers to visit Workforce Bulletin, the newest blog from our colleagues at Epstein Becker Green (EBG).

Workforce Bulletin will feature a range of cutting-edge issues—such as sexual harassment, diversity and inclusion, pay equity, artificial intelligence in the workplace, cybersecurity, and the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on human resources—that are of concern to employers across all industries. EBG’s full announcement is here.

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(And if you haven’t subscribed to our blog yet, please do so in the right-hand margin or bottom of this page.
Continue Reading Workforce Bulletin: Insights on Labor and Employment Law – a New Blog from Epstein Becker Green

A New London Connecticut Superior Court jury awarded an $839,423 verdict in November 2019, involving theft of trade secrets for a $70 million U.S. Navy underwater drone project. This case, LBI, Inc. v. Sparks, et al., KNL-cv12-6018984-S, is a classic example of the blatant theft of an employer’s confidential and proprietary information that is so easily traceable to electronic files – and the costly consequences for the defendant employer’s complicity in that trade secret misappropriation.

Plaintiff LBI, Inc., a small Groton-based research and design development company, was to design, build and test the Navy’s underwater drones, and LBI partnered…
Continue Reading New London Connecticut Superior Court Jury Awards $839,423 Verdict for Theft of U.S. Navy Underwater Drone Project Trade Secrets

A federal judge in Chicago recently held that an individual can be convicted of attempting to steal a trade secret, even if the information at issue did not actually constitute a trade secret, so long as the individual believed that the information was a trade secret.

In United States of America v. Robert O’Rourke Opinion, Judge Andrea R. Wood denied a post-conviction motion for a new trial in a case involving attempted and actual trade secret theft.  The decision involved a metallurgical engineer and salesperson, Robert O’Rourke, who resigned his employment to take a position as vice president of…
Continue Reading Belief That Information Is a Trade Secret, Even If It Isn’t, Is Enough to Be Convicted for Attempted Theft of Trade Secrets

I’m pleased to present the 2019 update to our “Trade Secrets Litigation” Practice Note, published by Thomson Reuters Practical Law. My co-author Zachary Jackson and I discuss litigation for employers whose employees have misappropriated trade secrets.

See below to download it in PDF format—following is an excerpt:

Trade secrets are often an employer’s most valuable assets. When an employee or former employee misappropriates an employer’s trade secrets, the employer frequently initiates litigation with several goals in mind, including:
  • Preventing further unauthorized use or disclosure of its trade secrets.
  • Recovering the trade secrets.
  • Obtaining damages.

This Practice Note discusses trade secrets

…
Continue Reading Trade Secrets Litigation: 2019 Practice Note Update

190709-CA-WEBINAR

California, the Golden State, is a special place to live and work. However, if you are an employer in California, you have most likely heard warnings of what you cannot do in terms of protecting your workforce and trade secrets and preventing unfair competition. While the rules of the road are different in California, employers are not without tools to protect their resources. And those tools are the focus of this program: what you can do to protect your workforce and trade secrets in California.

Join our colleagues Steven R. Blackburn, James A. Goodman, and Peter A. Steinmeyer…
Continue Reading What Can You Do in California to Protect Your Workforce and Trade Secrets?

The 2019 legal landscape of employee mobility continues to evolve, at times drastically. Courts and legislatures are giving increased scrutiny to employers’ claims to protect the confidentiality of their trade secrets and attempts to enforce their employees’ restrictive covenants, including non-competition and non-solicitation agreements. It can be hard for employers to prevent their confidential information and client goodwill from following certain departing employees.

With greater knowledge of the latest legal theories, decisions, statutes, and other developments in this area, employers can better protect and defend their interests—even preemptively—including in the ways they draft their employee agreements, design their compensation structures,…
Continue Reading Take Five Newsletter – Managing Employee Mobility Today: Are You Succeeding or Scrambling?

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Pursuant to a recently passed Oregon state law (HB 2992), noncompete agreements entered into on or after January 1, 2020 will only be enforceable against Oregon employees if the employer provides the departing employee with a signed copy of the agreement within 30 days after the employee’s date of termination.  Though at first blush, this law merely codifies the best practice of reminding departing employees of their continuing obligations to their former employer, it contains a few nuances Oregon employers should keep in mind.

The law requires employers to provide departing employees with a signed copy of their…
Continue Reading New Oregon Law Requires Employers to Remind Departing Employees of Their Noncompete Obligations

Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Downtown Chicago Dinner Program

Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Repeat Suburban Lunch Program

Join our colleagues Lauri Rasnick, Kevin Ryan, and Peter Steinmeyer for an interactive panel discussion which will provide insights into recent developments and expected trends in the evolving legal landscape of trade secret and non-competition law. This program will also discuss unique issues and developments in the health care and financial services industry. Our colleagues will also be joined by Thomas J. Shanahan, Associate General Counsel at Option Care.

Issues arising from employees and information moving from one employer to another…
Continue Reading EBG and ACC Co-Hosted Event – What’s New in the Area of Trade Secrets and Non-Competes, Particularly in the Financial Services and Health Care Industries

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Peter A. Steinmeyer, Co-Chair of the firm’s Trade Secrets & Employee Mobility strategic initiative and an editor of this blog, is set to present the webinar “Preventing & Remediating Trade Secret Misappropriation by Disloyal Employees,” for the Federal Bar Association. You can learn more about the webinar here and can register to attend here.
Continue Reading Peter Steinmeyer to Present the Webinar “Preventing & Remediating Trade Secret Misappropriation by Disloyal Employees”