At the State Opening of Parliament last week, the UK Government outlined its legislative agenda through the King’s Speech, an annual address where the ruling monarch, wearing the Imperial State Crown, reads a speech that has been prepared by the current Government outlining the Prime Minister’s priorities for the parliamentary year.
Yesterday’s King’s Speech was notable for several reasons. It
Continue Reading UK Government’s Proposal to Reduce Non-Competes Not Included In King’s Speech
The UK government has announced that it will bring in legislation to restrict the post-employment non-compete restraints to three months. This is a significant proposal as currently non-compete restrictions in the UK are generally capable of being enforced for a period up to 12 months (if they are “no more restrictive than is reasonably necessary to protect the employer’s legitimate
Continue Reading UK Government Moves to Limit Non-Competes
The Supreme Court in the UK, the highest court in the country, last week ruled on a restrictive covenant case for the first time in 100 years [Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd [2019] UKSC 32 (3 July 2019)]. It has clarified important points on interpretation, the key takeaway being it will now be easier for employers to enforce covenants against departing employees.
It has long been established in the UK, that restrictive covenants are an unlawful restraint of trade unless they go no further than is necessary to protect the employer’s legitimate proprietary interests. The Supreme Court recognized as such in quoting the colorful language of a court decision from the 15th century criticizing a plaintiff employer looking to enforce a covenant:
Continue Reading First UK Supreme Court Decision on Restrictive Covenants for 100 years
As a special feature of our blog—guest postings by experts, clients, and other professionals—please enjoy this blog entry from Jeremy Morton, Partner at Harbottle & Lewis LLP, London, UK.
For the first time ever, we have UK-wide legislation that concerns the protection of confidential information. Modifying its approach in light of a recent consultation exercise, the UK government introduced The Trade Secrets (Enforcement, etc.) Regulations 2018 on June 9, to implement the EU Trade Secrets Directive 2016/943.
Continue Reading UK Adopts New Trade Secrets Legislation
As a special feature of our blog—guest postings by experts, clients, and other professionals—please enjoy this blog entry from Jeremy Morton, Partner at Harbottle & Lewis LLP, London, UK.
The UK government has finally launched a consultation on its proposed “Trade Secrets (Enforcement, etc) Regulations 2018,” in advance of the June 9, 2018, deadline to implement the EU Trade Secrets Directive of 2016. Responses to the consultation are due by March 16.
Continue Reading UK Reveals Its Future Approach to Trade Secrets
We are pleased to announce the webinar “International Trade Secrets and Non-Compete Law Update,” is now available as a podcast and webinar recording.
The fifth webinar in the 2014 series, was presented by Wan Li, Ming Henderson, Justine Turnbull and Daniel Hart, focused on non-compete and trade secret considerations from an international perspective. Specifically, the webinar involved a discussion
Continue Reading Webinar Recap! International Trade Secrets and Non-Compete Law Update
When the Walt Disney Company built the “It’s a Small World” ® ride for the New York World’s Fair in 1964, they probably had no idea of the challenges that globalization could pose 50 years later. From cases involving the sale of stolen trade secrets to foreign companies to departing employees setting up competing business in different jurisdictions, many
Continue Reading Seyfarth to Host Webinar on International Trade Secrets and Non-Compete Law