Monthly Archives: February 2016

Ex parte civil seizure is overkill in trade secret lawsuits

Congress is so polarized right now that it’s tempting to applaud anything that has bipartisan support. After all, if all those people who can’t stand each other can unite over something, it should be safe to assume that whatever brought them together has to be worth supporting, right?

In the case of the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, I may have to be the skunk in the garden party. Of course, the intent of the act is a sound one: providing a federal civil cause of action for the theft of trade secrets and creating a uniform standard nationwide for protecting and enforcing those secrets. But one of the remedies – ex parte seizure of allegedly stolen assets – gives me pause. Continue reading

Posted in Complaints Against Executives, Confidential Information, Defend Trade Secrets Act, Trade Secrets | Tagged , | Comments Off on Ex parte civil seizure is overkill in trade secret lawsuits

Law360 Kerfuffle Adds to Noncompetes Bonfire

Every few months, a story comes along that reignites the “noncompetes are evil” fervor. Right now, the story du jour is that of Stephanie Russell-Kraft, a freelance reporter who formerly wrote for the legal newswire Law360. She left Law360 – her first job out of college – to take a job at competitor Thomson Reuters Corp. Continue reading

Posted in Confidential Information, Executive contracts, Legal, Litigation, Non-Competes, Trade Secrets | Tagged , , | 1 Comment