On Tuesday, November 17, 2020, at 1 p.m. Eastern, Houston partner Jesse Coleman and Boston partner Erik Weibust are presenting a webinar entitled “Available Remedies for Trade Secret and Restrictive Covenant Cases” for the Federal Bar Association and myLawCLE. Register for the webinar at the myLawCLE website. CLE credits are available, and an on-demand version of the webinar will be available following the live webinar. Below is a description of the program and an outline of the topics covered.

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Continue Reading Jesse Coleman and Erik Weibust to Present Webinar on “Available Remedies for Trade Secret and Restrictive Covenant Cases”

On Friday, November 13, 2020, from 12:20 p.m. to 1:20 p.m. Pacific, Seyfarth Partner Robert Milligan will present and moderate a panel for the California Lawyers Association Intellectual Property Law Section Shelter in Place Institute. The “Latest Developments in Trade Secrets Law and Employee Mobility” panel will cover some of the latest developments in trade secrets law and employee mobility in California.

The panel will also discuss some recent cases on damages, misappropriation, attorneys’ fees, employee mobility, business to business non-competes, solicitation covenants, and spoliation decisions.  For more information and to register, click here.

Seyfarth partner Erik Weibust was recently named Chair of the Trade Secret Committee for the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA).

The AIPLA Trade Secret Committee considers the laws, practices, and judicial decisions relating to unfair competition, including the protection of trade secrets and other data maintained in confidence, interferences with contractual relationships, trade libel and slander. The Trade Secret Committee hosts a Trade Secret Summit annually, the largest and most prestigious conference for trade secret practitioners in the country.

Find more information about the AIPLA Trade Secret Committee at  https://www.aipla.org/committees/trade-secret

Robert Milligan—Seyfarth partner and co-chair of the Trade Secrets, Computer Fraud & Non-Competes practice group—was recently a speaker for the ABA’s “Annual Review: Key business law developments in bite-size pieces” podcast series. The podcast episode titled “Recent Developments in Employee Mobility, Restrictive Covenants and Trade Secrets” is available on the ABA website at https://www.americanbar.org/groups/business_law/resources/podcasts/to_the_extent_that/annual-review/employee-mobility/.

Seyfarth Trade Secrets attorneys are participating in The Sedona Conference Working Group 12 Annual Meeting, which is being held virtually November 9–10, 2020.

On November 9, Seyfarth Trade Secrets partner Erik Weibust is a panelist for “Tailoring Remedies to the Misappropriation: Equitable Relief, Damages, or Both.” On November 10, Seyfarth partner and Trade Secrets, Computer Fraud & Non-Competes Practice Group Co-Chair Robert Milligan is speaking on the “Leveraging Internal Assets in the Governance and Management of Trade Secrets” panel.

Additional topics at the conference include:

  • Caselaw Synergies: Six Recent Trade Secret Cases Raising Issues for Dialogue Over the Next Two Days
  • Leveraging Internal Assets in the Governance and Management of Trade Secrets
  • Trade Secret Issues Across International Borders
  • Inevitable Tension: Reconciling Public Court Access with Protecting Trade Secrets in Litigation
  • Tailoring Remedies to the Misappropriation: Equitable Relief, Damages, or Both
  • Judicial Roundtable

Find more information or register on The Sedona Conference website at https://thesedonaconference.org/working_group_12_online_annual_meeting_2020

Robert Milligan authored an article in the Daily Journal, “Remote Workforces Increase Pressure On Keeping Trade Secrets Protected.”

The Seyfarth partner said that with more workers accessing, disclosing, using, and creating company information from their homes, prudent company leaders must ensure that they have appropriate procedures, training, and safeguards in place to protect company trade secrets. The article addresses five key considerations: 1) assessment of existing policies and agreements and making necessary updates; 2) employee training and education; 3) assessment of high-risk business segments and scenarios; 4) onboarding and departures; and 5) return to work.

 

Los Angeles partner Robert Milligan and counsel Darren Dummit will present an online CLE webinar for Strafford on October 15, 2020 at 10 a.m. pacific for business counsel to provide guidance regarding legal concerns in negotiating termination and suspension provisions contained in commercial contracts drafted in a pre-pandemic world, as well as the considerations for such provisions in the post-pandemic economic environment. Other considerations and means of limiting liability and damages will also be discussed.

The global pandemic has destabilized all areas of commercial contracting and the supply chain. Counsel must examine default and termination provisions of ongoing and future agreements and how to calculate damages for those contracts. Force majeure provisions in commercial contracts are now under the microscope, although the clauses were most likely given little thought at the time of drafting. The expert panel will provide practical strategies for drafting and negotiating termination provisions of future commercial agreements to ensure clarity in issues of force majeure, the impossibility of performance, and damages to mitigate risks.

The panel will review these and other relevant topics:

What triggering events and provisions should an attorney consider when drafting a commercial agreement?
How can counsel tailor force majeure provisions in agreements during COVID-19?
When does impossibility or frustration of purpose arise in the performance of a commercial agreement?
How can damages be assessed in termination provisions to include the added costs of performance due to delays?
When and how should parties seek equitable relief in commercial agreements?

 

On Tuesday, October 6, 2020, Houston partner Jesse Coleman and Boston Partner Erik Weibust presented a webinar entitled “Recovering Damages for Breach of Restrictive Covenants” for Strafford. The webinar can be downloaded and viewed on demand at Strafford’s website. CLE credits are available. Below is a description of the program and an outline of the topics covered.

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When a current or former employee breaches restrictive covenants in an employment agreement, such as a noncompetition, non-solicitation, or nondisclosure agreement, the employer may often, depending on the jurisdiction, pursue damages against the employee as well as injunctive relief. Quantifying the damages to the business resulting from the breach of covenant can be challenging. Continue Reading Jesse Coleman and Erik Weibust Present Webinar on “Recovering Damages for Breach of Restrictive Covenants” for Strafford

Seyfarth Partner Marcus L. Mintz was recently named as a co-chair of the Restrictive Covenants/Tortious Interference Subcommittee of the American Bar Association Litigation Section.

The Restrictive Covenants/Tortious Interference Subcommittee is part of the Business Torts & Unfair Competition Committee. The Committee and Subcommittee focus on keeping business litigators fully informed on issues and trends regarding fiduciary duties, fraud, unfair trade practices, tortious interference, trademarks, and trade secrets, remedies, evidence, and emerging technology.

Learn more about the ABA Committee and Subcommittee on the ABA’s website.

On Tuesday September 22 at 2-3 p.m. Eastern, Dawn Mertineit will participate in a roundtable on “Forensic Analysis of Electronic Devices for Litigation” for the ABA’s Litigation Section. This program will discuss the importance of forensic analysis of electronic devices, both pre-litigation and during litigation. Topics covered will include scenarios in which forensic analysis will be necessary or helpful, types of evidence you can uncover using forensic analysis, how the analysis will be conducted, and best practices for choosing an examiner and formulating a plan for the scope of the analysis.

Find more information and register for this free program here.