Thursday, June 18, 2026
1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Eastern
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Central
11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Mountain
10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Pacific
When an employee resigns, what walks out the door with them? In today’s environment of remote work, cloud storage, and generative AI tools, the answer is often
Continue Reading Webinar – Digital Exfiltration & Departing Employees: Protecting Trade Secrets in a Modern Risk Environment
Dawn Mertineit, Marcus Mintz, and Michael Wexler, co-chairs of Seyfarth’s national Trade Secrets, Computer Fraud, and Non-Competes practice, are among the contributing authors to the Chambers Trade Secrets 2026 Global Practice Guide.
Mertineit, Mintz, and Wexler authored Chapter 13, “USA Trends and Developments,” examining the evolving US legal landscape governing restrictive covenants, trade secret protection, and employee
Continue Reading Dawn Mertineit, Marcus Mintz, and Michael Wexler Author Chapter on US Trade Secrets Trends in Chambers Global Practice Guide
With a factual background that resembles a bad Hollywood script, the most recent chapter in the ongoing dispute between former co-founder of Trilobio, Keoni Gandall (defendant), and Trilobio and his two former partners and co-founders Roya Amini-Naieni and Maximilian Schommer (plaintiffs) ended on October 17, 2024, with the court enjoining Gandall and his new company from using Trilobio’s trade secrets.
Continue Reading Bizarre Dispute Between AI-Biotech Startup and Former Executive Ends in Trade Secret TRO, For Now
Everyone generally agrees that people and organizations should be able to protect their proprietary and valuable information. But one area where we’ve seen legislative fretting is when that principle potentially impedes reporting wrongdoing to the government. As we have previously blogged, Congress and many state legislatures are exploring (or, in some cases, already enacted) legislative protections for reporting suspected misconduct to the government. And, at the federal level, Congress enacted the Defend Trade Secrets Act, which provides immunity for the disclosure of a trade secret if made in confidence to an attorney or government official for the purpose of investigating a suspected violation of law.
Continue Reading Recent SEC Order Reiterates Need for Affirmative Whistleblower Exclusion
It’s a fact pattern that repeatedly arises in trade secret cases: a company hires someone who has a confidentiality agreement with their former employer. Just before (or shortly after) being hired, the individual emails confidential information from their former employer to individuals at their new job. The former employer files suit against the individual, but also asserts a claim for tortious interference with contractual relations against the new employer.
Continue Reading Merely Receiving Confidential Information Isn’t Enough: Georgia Court Dismisses Tortious Interference with Contract Claim in Trade Secret Case
In the third installment of our 2022 Trade Secrets Webinar Series, Seyfarth attorneys Justin Beyer and Ian Long discussed employee mobility and its impact on trade secrets and non-compete agreements, and shared practical steps that companies can take to protect intellectual capital in today’s market.
As a follow up to this webinar, our team wanted to highlight:
• Protecting
Continue Reading Webinar Recap! Employee Mobility and Its Effects on Trade Secrets and Non-Competes
A Massachusetts waffle manufacturer, The Burgundian, recently filed a lawsuit alleging that a potential co-venturer, Eastern Standard Provisions, submitted its Liege waffles for inclusion on Oprah Winfrey’s annual “Favorite Things” list without giving credit to Burgundian. Then, after Burgundian refused to sell its secret waffle recipe, Eastern Standard employed a “bait and switch” by selling Liege waffles from a different company while touting Oprah’s endorsement of the Liege waffles made by Burgundian and enjoying the spoils of landing a spot on the coveted list.
Continue Reading One of Our “Favorite Things” Are Lawsuits About Stolen Secret Recipes
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Eastern
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Central
11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Mountain
10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Pacific
In this fifth installment of our 2021 Trade Secrets Webinar Series, our experienced team will cover trade secret/confidentiality, non-compete and restrictive covenant issues that typically arise in M&A transactions. From
Continue Reading Upcoming Webinar! Anatomy of an M&A Transaction: How to Issue Spot for Non-Compete, Trade Secrets/Confidential Information, and Intellectual Capital Concerns
In an expansive recent ruling, the California Court of Appeal in Brown v. TGS Management Co., LLC reversed a judgment confirming an arbitration award, examining the arbitrator’s findings, and ultimately invalidating a confidentiality provisions in an employment agreement under Business and Professions Code section 16600 on the grounds that they operated as a “de facto noncompete provision” and were “void ab initio and unenforceable.” The court’s decision, upholding the state’s long-standing policy in favor of employee mobility, offered a harsh word of caution for employers that use overly broad confidentiality provisions and other restrictive covenants with their California employees.
Continue Reading California Court of Appeal Extends the Reach of Section 16600 to Upset Arbitration Award Because of Alleged Overly Broad Confidentiality Provisions
Continuing our annual tradition, we have compiled our top developments and headlines for 2019 & 2020 in trade secret, non-compete, and computer fraud law. Here’s what you need to know to keep abreast of the ever-changing law in this area.
Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) introduced legislation in 2019 entitled the Workforce Mobility Act (“WMA”). The WMA seeks to ban non-compete agreements outside of the sale of a business or dissolution of a partnership.
Not only would the WMA abolish covenants not to compete nationwide, outside of the extremely narrow exceptions highlighted above, but it would also provide the Department of Labor (DOL) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with broad enforcement power. If enacted, the legislation would empower the FTC and DOL to enforce the ban through fines on employers who either fail to notify employees that non-compete agreements are illegal or who require employees to sign covenants not to compete. Additionally, the WMA establishes a private right of action for all employees allegedly aggrieved by a violation of the WMA.
The WMA contains a carve out for parties to enter into an agreement to protect trade secrets. As currently drafted, the WMA does not abrogate the scope of protections provided by the Defend Trade Secrets Act.
Presently, there are no generally applicable federal restrictions on non-compete agreements, and enacting such a law would have to pass Constitutional muster. We expect to see continued activity at the federal legislative level to attempt to ban or limit the use of non-competes.