Non-Compete Enforceability

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On Thursday, October 7, 2021, at 2:00 p.m. EST Boston partner Erik Weibust will present a webinar for Thomson Reuters’ West LegalEdCenter entitled “The Future of Noncompetes and What it Means for the Protection of Your Workforce and Trade Secrets: Part 1.”

This is the first installment of a three part series, and will focus on recent developments in federal…
Continue Reading Erik Weibust to Present “The Future of Noncompetes and What it Means for the Protection of Your Workforce and Trade Secrets: Part 1” for Thomson Reuters

Please join Seyfarth at the 2021 AIPLA Trade Secret Summit, which is being held November 8-9, 2021 at the headquarters of SolarWinds in Austin, Texas.

Boston Partner Erik Weibust is Chair of the AIPLA Trade Secret Committee and he will be offering welcoming remarks and moderating a panel entitled “Expert Advice: Practical tips for working with experts in a trade…
Continue Reading Join Seyfarth at the 2021 Trade Secret Summit in Austin, Texas

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On August 13, 2021, Governor Pritzker signed into law Public Act 102-0358, which amends the Illinois Freedom to Work Act and sets forth specific requirements for the enforceability of restrictive covenant agreements in Illinois for agreements entered into on or after January 1, 2022.

Income Thresholds
To be enforceable, as of the law’s effective date, non-compete agreements may only be…
Continue Reading What Employers Need to Know Regarding Illinois’ New Restrictive Covenant Law

Earlier this month, Plaintiff Bright Side, LLC dba Herbal Edibles, a manufacturer of cannabis edibles, filed a lawsuit in New Mexico state court to enforce a 3-year non-compete and enjoin the misappropriation of its trade secret cannabis recipes by one its former bakers, Christina Johnson.

Based on the complaint, Ms. Johnson had been employed by Herbal Edibles as a baker for less than one year when she was terminated. Ms. Johnson allegedly started her own competing business, selling cannabis edibles such as “psychedelic sugar cookies” through Instagram and an open air market.…
Continue Reading Cannabis Baker’s Plans of Own Business Potentially Put On Backburner

Since we last wrote about DC’s sweeping ban on non-competes (the “Act”), there have been many questions and concerns, not surprisingly. And now those have spilled over into deliberations before the DC Council, leading to Councilmember Elissa Silverman’s introduction of the Non-Compete Conflict of Interest Clarification Amendment Act of 2021 on May 21, 2021. Councilmember Silverman and others hope to limit the new non-compete law before it gets funded with an effective date of March 16, 2021. While helpful, the Silverman proposals are extremely limited in scope, and so others have chimed in, leading to a potential delay of the Act’s implementation.…
Continue Reading District of Columbia Councilmembers Seek Clarification on Non-Compete Ban

Along with 54 other lawyers and two paralegals from across the country, Seyfarth partners Kate Perrelli, Robert Milligan, and Erik Weibust recently signed a letter, penned by our friend Russell Beck, in response to President Biden’s July 9, 2021 Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy, which we previously wrote about. The letter, which…
Continue Reading Seyfarth Partners Join More Than 50 Lawyers Nationwide to Recommend to the White House and FTC that Regulation of Non-Competes Should Be Left to the States

On Monday, July 19, 2021, Houston partner Jesse Coleman and Boston partner Erik Weibust are presenting a webinar entitled “Available Remedies in Trade Secret and Restrictive Covenant Cases” for LawPracticeCLE at 2 p.m. Eastern. It will also be available on demand.

Course Description

When a current or former employee or business partner misappropriates trade secrets or breaches a restrictive covenant…
Continue Reading Jesse Coleman and Erik Weibust Present Webinar on “Available Remedies in Trade Secret and Restrictive Covenant Cases” for LawPracticeCLE

On Friday, July 9, 2021, the Biden Administration released its executive order on “Promoting Competition in the American Economy.” We previously wrote about the forthcoming order and predicted that the executive order’s treatment of non-compete provisions would be a general call to rulemaking versus a more authoritative or immediate directive to the FTC.…
Continue Reading President Biden Issues Executive Order Encouraging the FTC to Consider Curtailing the Use of “Unfair” Non-Competes, but Without Providing any Additional Guidance or Details

The Biden Administration plans to issue an executive order calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to adopt rules to limit the use of noncompete clauses in employment agreements. According to Axios, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that “roughly half of private sector businesses require at least some employees to enter noncompete agreements, affecting over 30 million people. This affects construction workers, hotel workers, many blue-collar jobs, not just high-level executives. [President Biden] believes that if someone offers you a better job, you should be able to take it. It makes sense.” Indeed, in 2016, then Vice President Biden went on the record that “no one should have to sit on the sidelines because of an unnecessary non-compete agreement.” While the intervening years have not seen any federal action on non-competes, a number of states have enacted legislative changes to narrow the scope and availability of noncompete agreements.…
Continue Reading Biden to Ban Non-Competes?

As changes in restrictive covenants laws sweep the nation, Nevada is one of the latest jurisdictions to update its non-compete statute. Last month, the state legislature amended the Nevada Unfair Trade Practices Act to add new requirements for enforceability of non-competes.

The amendment makes the following changes in Nevada law:…
Continue Reading Nevada Amends Non-Compete Statute Protecting Low-Wage Workers and Imposing Award of Attorneys’ Fees for Certain Violations