Non-Competes / Trade Secrets Archives - Page 10 of 13

Part 19 of “The Restricting Covenant” Series: Clickwrap Covenants Not to Compete

If you are one of the billions of smartphone users worldwide, I bet you recently downloaded a mobile app and clicked “I agree” to the app’s terms of use or service. Did you actually read all (any) of the terms before you agreed? Courts typically call these contracts (yes, they can be enforceable contracts) “clickwrap agreements.” A clickwrap agreement is formed when a user affirmatively clicks a button or checks a box that explicitly indicates that the user has accepted or agreed to the terms of an agreement upon viewing its terms.

It is becoming commonplace for employers to use web-based clickwrap agreements with their employees either as part of onboarding (e.g., employment agreements) or during the course of employment (e.g., stock award agreements). These clickwrap agreements can include important post-employment restrictive covenants. Are these covenants enforceable?

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Part 18 of “The Restricting Covenant” Series: Court Reporters and Covenants Not to Compete

Most litigators will attest that court reporters and transcribers are essential to the litigation process because they provide a verbatim record of depositions and other court proceedings. Court reporters are extremely patient, courteous, and obviously great listeners. Often times, we lawyers tend to have our “favorites” – you know, the court reporters who you work with repeatedly because they pick up your preferences and other linguistic quirks. I typically think of court reporters as “independent contractors” who would not be bound by traditional non-competition agreements. But when I learned about cases in some jurisdictions enforcing restrictive covenants involving court reporters, I had to write about a few of them in this eighteenth article of the Series.

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Part 17 of “The Restricting Covenant” Series: Realtors, Real Estate Agents, and Restrictive Covenants

At least once a month I receive a postcard in the mail from a local, regional or national realtor about homes sold recently in my neighborhood. These glossy postcards typically feature a specific real estate agent with his or her photo, name and telephone number. What these postcards don’t tell you, however, is whether the agent is subject to a non-compete agreement. Because I’m always looking for interesting topics to discuss related to restrictive covenants, this seventeenth article in The Restricting Covenant series explores realtors, real estate agents and non-compete disputes.

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Part 16 of “The Restricting Covenant” Series: Civil Contempt and Covenants Not to Compete

Make no bones about it, non-compete disputes can be litigious, contentious, and downright nasty. Someone breached another’s trust or loyalty; or stole something valuable from someone else; or didn’t uphold his or her end of the bargain. Battle lines are drawn. Nevertheless, there are codes of civility, professionalism, and rules of law that must be followed. So, you would think that when a court enters an order granting injunctive relief consistent with the parties’ non-compete agreement, the order would be followed, right? Read on. In this sixteenth article of the Series, I discuss a few extreme examples of litigants in non-compete disputes who failed to comply with court orders, resulting in significant monetary damages and other sanctions.

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Part 15 of “The Restricting Covenant” Series: Non-Competes, Trade Secrets and Corporate Espionage

Highly valuable trade secrets, corporate espionage, elaborate schemes to evade detection, and national defense implications. Have I piqued your curiosity? I hope so. In this fifteenth article of The Restricting Covenant series, I discuss two cases that involve individuals and business enterprises charged by the federal government with stealing valuable trade secrets from U.S.-based companies. The stakes are extremely high on all sides.

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Part 14 of “The Restricting Covenant” Series: Non-Competes and the Janitor Analogy

Let me begin by explaining that this article does not focus on the janitorial profession and whether non-competes in that profession are enforceable. That’s a topic for another day. Instead, this fourteenth article in The Restricting Covenant series discusses a concept that some courts and litigants refer to as the “janitor analogy” or the “janitor test,” when analyzing or illustrating the overbroad scope of a non-compete provision.

In Any Capacity?

The janitor analogy is most often invoked in cases where the employer’s non-compete agreement prohibits a former employee from being employed or affiliated with a competitor “in any capacity” or “in any manner.”

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