A California federal court recently dismissed a lawsuit seeking a declaration that a non-compete agreement is unenforceable under California law, upholding the parties’ Washington forum selection clause. Meras Engineering, Inc. v. CH20, Inc., No. C-11-0389 EMC (N.D. Cal. Jan. 14, 2013). CH20 is a Washington corporation with its principal place of business in Washington.
Unfair Competition Claim Based on Copyright Infringement Preempted by Copyright Act
A federal court in California has held that a state law claim that a competitor engaged in unfair competition by creating infringing work after hiring former employees who stole proprietary information is preempted by the federal Copyright Act. Metabyte, Inc. v. NVidia Corp., et al., Case No. 12-0044 SC (N.D. Cal. April 22, 2013.
Metabyte
Joint B-School/Law School Study Sheds Empirical Light on Use of Non-Competes in CEO Contracts
A recent study by three business and law school professors analyzed a random sample of 1,000 CEO employment contracts for 500 American companies over a seventeen year time span. The study determined how often the contracts included non-competes, whether the use of non-competes has increased over time, whether the use of non-competes is correlated to
North Dakota Non-Compete Law Shares History with California
North Dakota has one of the fastest-growing workforces in the country as the result of recent advances in extracting natural gas and oil. As more employers seek to hire in or transfer employees to the Peace Garden State, many are surprised to discover that North Dakota law prohibits non-compete agreements. North Dakota Century Code Section