For the first time, there will be a federal private right of action for misappropriation of trade secrets. The Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”), passed by both houses of Congress, is headed to President Barack Obama for his signature and his office has stated it “strongly supports” the legislation. The DTSA will become effective upon
Conrad S. Kee from our Salt Lake City office and Cliff Atlas, co-chair of the firm’s non-compete practice group have written on the firm’s website about two new important laws in Utah, the Post-Employment Restrictions Act and the Computer Abuse and Data Recovery Act.
Defying claims that bi-partisanship in Congress is dead, the United States Senate has passed the Defend Trade Secrets Act by a vote of 87-0. The measure, approved by the upper chamber on April 4, goes to the House of Representatives, which is considering a very similar bill with sponsorship from both sides of the aisle.
Whether Google Docs, Dropbox, or some other file sharing system, employees, especially millennials and other digital natives, are increasingly likely to set up personal cloud-based document sharing and storage accounts for work purposes, usually with well-meaning intentions, such as convenience and flexibility. Sometimes this is done with explicit company approval, sometimes it is done with
Jackson Lewis attorneys Peter R. Bulmer, A. Robert Fischer, Michael S. Kantor, and David E. Renner have prepared a detailed update on the firm’s website on the status of a bill in Congress which would create a federal trade secrets law, known as the Defend Trade Secrets Act. Stay tuned for further developments!
Cliff Atlas, a principal with Jackson Lewis, will be participating in a webinar on January 20, 2016 on the topic of “Insider Threat: Employee Mobility and Trade Secrets” on the IP Chat Channel sponsored by the Intellectual Property Owners Association. www.ipo.org/IPChatChannel. The webinar is open to all. The registration fee is $130, with academic
In a detailed, 26-page published decision in the matter of Cardoni v Prosperity Bank, No. 14-20682 (5th Cir. Oct. 29, 2015) the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals took a deep look at choice of law provisions in restrictive covenants. The Appellate Court started out by noting that in addition to their well-known disagreements over
In a 3-2 decision, the Utah Supreme Court has held that there is a presumption of harm for claims made under the Utah Uniform Trade Secrets Act, Utah Code § 13-24-1, et seq., and for claims for breach of a non-disclosure agreement when a former employee takes confidential information or trade secrets from her recent
Two recent cases from opposite coasts confirm that employees do not have an unfettered right to steal their employer’s documents notwithstanding the documents’ potential relevance to a whistleblower retaliation claim.
In West Hills Research and Development Inc. v. Wyles, Cal. Ct. App. 2d Dist. Case No. B255768 (July 17, 2015), when West Hills terminated
The California Court of Appeal has upheld an award of monetary sanctions against a company that brought a lawsuit against its competitor that the court found was meritless and intended to stifle competition. Cypress Semiconductor Corp. v. Maxim Integrated Products, Inc., H038555 (Apr. 28, 2015). Cypress sued Maxim for trade secret misappropriation, alleging Maxim