A lawsuit that I worked on last year involved an interesting issue. May a business plaintiff use a confidentiality agreement to prevent its former salesperson from continuing business relationships with the plaintiff’s customers? Yes, an employer can use a properly crafted non-competition agreement to achieve this goal. But if there is no such agreement, can a plaintiff achieve the same end by relying upon a confidentiality agreement? Continue reading
Texas Trade Secrets
Category: Defend Trade Secrets Act
More than eight months elapsed since the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”) went into effect in May 2016. This and the beginning of a new year led to me to check into how the courts applied one aspect of the statute that initially caused alarm for some people. Continue reading
In a post last Fall, I expressed my view that the United States does not need a federal statute providing civil remedies for theft of trade secrets. That debate is over. Whether we need it or not, Congress enacted the Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”) on April 27, 2016. I anticipate that President Obama will sign the bill.
Update: President Obama signed the DTSA into law on May 11, 2016.
I have been following the progress of bills in the U.S. House and Senate that would create a federal cause of action for theft of trade secrets. I just don’t see a need for this legislation. Continue reading
Patrick Keating
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