On Wednesday, July 3, 2024, a federal judge in Texas blocked the Federal Trade Commission’s rule that seeks an almost complete ban of non-compete agreements. In her ruling, Judge Ada Brown of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted the plaintiffs Motion for a Preliminary Injunction, delaying the effective date
On Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued its long-awaited final rule regarding non-compete agreements. The FTC determined that non-compete agreements are an unfair method of competition and, therefore, a violation of the FTC Act. Once the rule is effective, employers may not enter new non-compete agreements with employees or enforce existing non-compete agreements against
On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) proposed a rule banning provisions in employment agreements which prevent employees and independent contractors, for a period of time, from working for a competitor or starting a competing business. The FTC will accept public comments on the proposal for 60 days and consider those comments prior
Non-compete agreements have recently become a popular focus of the federal and state governments. Several weeks ago, President Biden issued an Executive Order, “Promoting Competition in the American Economy” which asked the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) to exercise the FTC’s statutory rulemaking authority to curtail the unfair use of non-compete agreements and other
Recently, President Biden issued an Executive Order titled, “Promoting Competition in the American Economy.” Notably, among other things, the Executive Order recommends that the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) curtail the use of non-compete agreements.
The Executive Order seeks to “. . . address agreements that may unduly limit workers’ ability to change jobs”
Although some departing employees are willing to risk violating their non-competes when they leave a company, a recent court decision reinforced one of the significant dangers that those employees can face in doing so. In this decision, a federal appeals court in Ohio ruled that a former employee who violates a non-compete can be forced
Federal law has long protected owners of patents, copyrights and trademarks from infringement of those intellectual property rights. Trade secret owners, however, traditionally had to rely on state law to protect their trade secrets from improper use or disclosure. Congress has now given trade secret owners an additional avenue for protecting their intellectual property: the
This post was co-authored by Inna Shelley.
Employers should have counsel review their non-compete agreements in order to ensure that a merger or other restructuring would not affect the successor company’s right to enforce the agreement. On May 24, the Ohio Supreme Court decided Accordia of Ohio, LLC v. Fischel, a case in which