Catching the thief red-handed isn't enough to win a trade secrets case
You can prove trade secrets theft cold and still lose the injunction. That's the lesson from the 6th Circuit's recent decision in UE...
Topic: trade secrets/competition
Your hourly employee's second job is probably none of your business
By Jon Hyman
You can't refuse to pay for someone's time and simultaneously insist that you own it. A group of more than 26,000 Costco employees a...
Apple v. OpenAI offers a master class in spotting trade secret theft before it's too late
By Jon Hyman
Apple's newly filed trade secret lawsuit against OpenAI contains an allegation that should make every employer's ears perk up. Accor...
Why your noncompete agreement could become "Exhibit A" in a discrimination lawsuit.
By Jon Hyman
For years, employers have treated noncompete agreements as just another item in the onboarding paperwork. Hand over the offer letter, the ha...
When “irreparable harm” isn’t: 8th Circuit slams brakes on a noncompete injunction
By Jon Hyman
Employers love preliminary injunctions in restrictive covenant cases. And courts are supposed to grant them only in extraordinary circumstan...
Independent contractors and noncompete agreements do not mix
By Jon Hyman
I've always believed that noncompetes and "independent contractor" status don't mix. Now I have an appellate opinion to ba...
What are you doing to protect your company's trade secrets and keep them secret?
By Jon Hyman
Sherbrooke, a captive insurer for nursing homes, built proprietary software to price risk and underwrite policies. Three insiders—including ...
When your top talent drops the leg on your trade secrets…
By Jon Hyman
Carma HoldCo—the company behind the Real American Beer concept—is laying the legal smackdown on two of its former execs, Chad Bronstein and ...
Your trade secrets just walked out the front door … and you might have held it open: Generative AI and trade secrets
By Jon Hyman
No employee—except the rare bad actor—means to leak sensitive company data. But it happens, especially when people are using generative AI t...
A teachable moment on digital communication security
By Jon Hyman
An editor at The Atlantic was accidentally added to a high-level Signal group chat where Trump administration officials were planning milita...
A tale of two approaches to noncompete agreements
By Jon Hyman
Big news on noncompetes—from two very different directions. First, the NLRB just quietly backed off its aggressive stance that most noncompe...
Use caution when poaching competing employees
By Jon Hyman
Here are 25 million reasons to be careful when poaching your competitor's key employees. In a recent federal case, medical device compan...
The FTC's noncompete ban is DOA
By Jon Hyman
It was only a matter of time before a federal court blocked the FTC's noncompete rule , which would have banned virtually all noncompete...
FTC bans all non-competes … Now what?
By Jon Hyman
There's more than one way to skin a cat … or at least that's what many employers are hoping. Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission...
It’s past time to self-regulate your use of noncompete agreements before the government does it for you
By Jon Hyman
Boston Beer Co., the brewer of Sam Adams and other craft beverages, is taking heat for its overuse of noncompete agreements. In a recent art...
If you can’t beat ’em, sue ’em.
By Jon Hyman
“Competition is fine, cheating is not.” That’s what Elon Musk tweeted after Twitter’s lawyer’s cease and desist letter to Mark Zuckerberg ...
NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo just obliterated non-compete agreements (maybe)
By Jon Hyman
In my view, the proffer, maintenance, and enforcement of a non-compete provision that reasonably tends to chill employees from engaging in ...
Spotting the employment law issues in “She-Hulk"
By Jon Hyman
Donny Blaze was a former student of Kamar-Taj, having dropped out after failing to adhere to their strict teachings. He left, however, with ...
The time has come to limit the overuse and overbreadth of noncompetition agreements
By Jon Hyman
It's been nearly five years since I asked this question : "Is your non-compete agreement killing a fly with a sledgehammer?" N...
Whistleblowing and self-help discovery: lessons from Frances Haugen, the Facebook whistleblower
By Jon Hyman
"Can she do that?" That was the question my wife asked me as we watched last night's interview of Frances Haugen, the Facebook...