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Huawei Technologies Co., the world’s largest telecommunications company, and CNEX Labs Inc. went to trial this week in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas over dueling allegations of trade secret theft relating to semiconductor chip technology behind solid-state drives. Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. et al v. Huang et al, No.

On April 1st, 2019, the Greek Law 4605/2019 implementing the Trade Secrets Directive 2016/943 was published in the Official Gazette. This new law creates a framework for the protection of business information and know-how. Before that date, Greek law did not provide for any legal protection against the expropriation or theft of for example software

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Waiting too long to bring a trade secrets case against a defendant could be fatal.

In 2011, Alta Devices, Inc. was the world’s only known manufacturer of thin-film solar technology. LG Electronics, Inc. expressed an interest in this technology which prompted the two companies to enter into discussions about possible business opportunities and ultimately sign

On April 23rd, 2019, China’s Standing Committee on the National People’s Congress adopted amendments to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, significantly strengthening China’s protection of trade secrets. The bolstering of intellectual property safeguards in China comes in advance of important trade negotiations between China and the international community, including the United States. The changes to the

In the Third Circuit, common law generally governs the use of restrictive covenants. States in this Circuit employ a reasonability standard to determine whether a restrictive covenant is enforceable. In New Jersey, even if a covenant is found to be reasonable, it may be limited in its application by: geographical area, period of enforceability or

States within the Seventh Circuit employ the reasonability standard used in many other circuits to determine whether a restrictive covenant is enforceable. Two of these states, Illinois and Indiana, apply a common law framework but largely disfavor such covenants as a restraint on trade. Wisconsin’s restrictive covenant statute focuses on the reasonableness of the agreement

We recently shared a California federal court decision in Barker v. Insight Global, LLC, et al. that relied on Section 16600 of California’s Business and Professional Code to hold that, in California, non-solicitation provisions in employee agreements are presumptively invalid. The California statute governing restrictive covenants provides that “[e]xcept as provided in this chapter, every

In West Virginia, legislators are moving forward a bill that would criminalize trade secret theft. On February 26th 2019, the West Virginia House of Delegates passed H.B. 2014 with a 98-1 approval that would create criminal penalties for stealing trade secret or other intellectual property. The bill is now headed to the West Virginia Senate

Applying the trade secret label to diversity initiatives is growing in popularity in recent years.

This issue has arisen in the context of public records requests, as companies with government contracts are subject to the Labor Department’s anti-discrimination arm and are required to provide diversity information in the form of EEO-1 reports. Several companies have

Legislation recently introduced in the United States Senate to protect low-wage workers could roll back the use of non-compete agreements, a common tool companies use to protect their trade secrets.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio introduced the “Freedom to Compete Act,” which aims to protect low-wage and entry-level employees from non-compete agreements, which generally