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Category Archives: Trade Secrets
You Really Should Read the Treasury Department’s Report on Non-Competes
Anybody concerned with non-competes – that is any potential employer or employee, so pretty much all of us – should settle in with a nice sandwich and the beverage of their choice and read the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Economic Policy’s recent report, “Non-compete Contracts: Economic Effects and Policy Implications.” Continue reading
Posted in Confidential Information, Non-Competes, Trade Secrets
Tagged Jimmy John's, Law360, U.S. Treasury Department
1 Comment
How to Spot a Possible In-House Trade Secret Thief
My main complaint with how trade secret theft is talked about is the notion that the chief culprits are hackers from China or somewhere similarly opaque. In reality, most trade secret thieves are homegrown, and the tools of the trade are fairly low-tech. Continue reading
Posted in Complaints Against Executives, Confidential Information, Legal, Trade Secrets
Tagged FBI
1 Comment
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 civil seizure, Defend Trade Secrets Act
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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
Another Plug for Keeping Secrets Secret
Just a quick post to follow up on the item I wrote back in June about the hack into the Houston Astros’ Ground Control database by someone within the St. Louis Cardinals’ front office.
We now know the culprit was Chris Correa, a former Cardinals scouting director who recently pled guilty to five counts of accessing Astros computers without authorization from 2013-14. Correa was able to get into the Astros’ database because he had the password of a former Cardinals’ employee who had joined the Astros. Continue reading
Posted in Confidential Information, Legal, Trade Secrets
Tagged Chris Correa, Houston Astros, Houston Chronicle, MLB, St. Louis Cardinals
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SCOTX Asked to Keep a Few Too Many Secrets
Yesterday, the Texas Supreme Court heard an important case involving the recently enacted Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act (TUTSA), and it could profoundly impact how trade secret cases are litigated in Texas. This case concerns whether a plaintiff can banish … Continue reading
Posted in Complaints Against Executives, Confidential Information, Legal, Litigation, Non-Competes, Trade Secrets
Tagged AZA, National Oilwell Varco, Schlumberger, Supreme Court of Texas
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Trans Pacific Partnership Deal Could Mean Even More Trade Secret Cases in Criminal Court
The TPP is a proposed trade agreement signed on Oct. 5 by 12 Pacific Rim countries: the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore. Depending on whom you believe, it will either usher in a glittering era of economic growth or environmental degradation and labor exploitation. Continue reading
Posted in Trade Secrets
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What Execs Can Learn from the Clinton Email Scandal
It’s always a good time to learn from the misfortunes/bad judgment of others, and the Hillary Clinton email controversy seems as good an opportunity to do that as any.
Continue reading
Posted in CEOs, Complaints Against Executives, Confidential Information, Corporate culture, Trade Secrets
Tagged Clinton Foundation, email, Hillary Clinton
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More on the Astros/Cardinals Hacking Scandal
I went on KTRK, Houston’s ABC affiliate, last weekend to discuss the Houston Astros/St. Louis Cardinals hacking scandal. You can check out the video here.
Posted in Confidential Information, Non-Competes, Trade Secrets, Uncategorized
Tagged Houston Astros, KTRK, St. Louis Cardinals
1 Comment
Cardinal/Astros Hack: Earth-Shaking in Baseball, Business as Usual in the C-Suite
The recent hack into the Houston Astros’ Ground Control database may be unprecedented in sports, but it has echoes of countless trade secret theft cases in the business world. And even if the culprit turns out to be just one or two “rogue elements” within the Cardinals’ front office, it also offers lessons to high-level executives who change jobs. Continue reading
Posted in CEOs, Confidential Information, Executive contracts, Legal, Non-Competes, Trade Secrets
Tagged baseball, Ground Control, Houston Astros, Jeff Luhnow, password hygiene, St. Louis Cardinals
Comments Off on Cardinal/Astros Hack: Earth-Shaking in Baseball, Business as Usual in the C-Suite