Trade Secrets and Confidential Information

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Now on Spilling Secrets, our podcast series on the future of non-compete and trade secrets law:

The holidays are over, and year-end bonuses are being paid, making January and the first quarter a common time for employees to jump ship to work for a competitor.

Our all-star panel of attorneys – Pete Steinmeyer, Kate Rigby, Millie Warner, and Erik Weibust – discuss what an employer should do in this situation.…

Continue Reading Spilling Secrets Podcast: What to Do When a Star Employee Decamps to a Competitor

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Now on Spilling Secrets, our podcast series on the future of non-compete and trade secrets law:

The year is coming to a close, and it was a big one in the world of trade secrets and non-competes. In this episode, we’re running down the key trends of 2022.…

Continue Reading Spilling Secrets Podcast: Top Trade Secret and Non-Compete Developments of 2022

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Welcome to Spilling Secrets, a new monthly podcast series on the future of non-compete and trade secrets law.

If you’re hiring from a competitor amid the Great Resignation, one of your top priorities is not getting sued.
Continue Reading Spilling Secrets Podcast: Hiring from a Competitor? Don’t Get Sued.

In a pending trial in federal court in Boston in the case U.S. v. Haoyang Yu, et al., prosecutors accuse a design engineer and naturalized citizen from China of stealing microchips (monolithic microwave integrated circuits or “MMICs” used in radio, cellular and satellite communications) from his former employer Analog Devices, Inc. As reported in Law360, during opening statements last week, a federal prosecutor told the jury, “It’s a story of fraud. It’s a story of possession of stolen trade secrets. It’s a story of illegal exports and immigration fraud.” In support of its case, the government explained that…
Continue Reading “Pikachu, Where Are You?” – Concealment Evidence Will Play Prominent Role in Trade Secrets Theft Trial Against Design Engineer Alleged to Have Disguised Stolen Files as Pokémon Pics

On May 2, 2022, a bill “limiting certain provisions in restrictive covenants” was introduced in the New Jersey State Assembly.  In recent years, similar bills have been proposed in various state legislatures.  Some such bills, after much lobbying, haggling and revisions, have even been enacted into law, including, for example, in Massachusetts, Illinois and Washington.
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Continue Reading Proposed New Jersey Non-Compete Law Aims to Provide a Little Bit of Everything

Our colleagues David S. Poppick and Carol J. Faherty have co-authored the 2021 update to “Trade Secret Laws: Connecticut,” a Q&A guide to state law on trade secrets and confidentiality for private employers in Connecticut, published by Thomson Reuters Practical Law.

Following is an excerpt (see below to download the full version in PDF format):

This Q&A addresses the state-specific definition of trade secrets and the legal requirements relating to protecting them. Federal, local, or municipal law may impose additional or different requirements. Answers to questions can be compared across several jurisdictions. …

In particular, this Q&A addresses:

  • Overview of

…
Continue Reading Connecticut Trade Secret Laws: 2021 Update

The 2020 update to our Practice Note, “Garden Leave Provisions in Employment Agreements,” is now available from Thomson Reuters Practical Law.  We discuss garden leave provisions in employment agreements as an alternative or a companion to traditional employee non-compete agreements.

Following is an excerpt (see below to download the full article in PDF format):

In recent years, traditional non-compete agreements have faced increasing judicial scrutiny, with courts focusing on issues such as the adequacy of consideration, the propriety of non-competes for lower level employees, and whether the restrictions of a non-compete are justified by a legitimate business interest or are…

Continue Reading Garden Leave Provisions in Employment Agreements: 2020 Update

Thomson Reuters Practical Law has released the 2020 update to “Trade Secret Laws: Illinois,” a Q&A guide to state law on trade secrets and confidentiality for private employers, authored by our colleague David J. Clark at Epstein Becker Green.

The Q&A addresses the state-specific definition of trade secrets and the legal requirements relating to protecting them. Federal, local, or municipal law may impose additional or different requirements. Answers to questions can be compared across several jurisdictions.

Download the full Q&A in PDF format here: Trade Secret Laws: Illinois – Q&A Guide for Employers Update
Continue Reading Illinois Trade Secret Laws: Q&A Guide for Employers

On January 9, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) held a public workshop in Washington, DC to examine whether there is a sufficient legal basis and empirical economic support to promulgate a Commission rule that would restrict the use of non-compete clauses in employment contracts.  At the conclusion of the workshop, the FTC solicited public comments from interested parties on various issues, including business justifications for non-competes, effect of non-competes on labor-market participants and efficacy of state law for addressing harms arising from non-competes.

On March 12, 2020, attorneys general from seventeen states (including California, Illinois, New York and…
Continue Reading State Attorneys General Write to FTC Opposing Non-Compete Clauses in the Workplace

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