The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is proposing changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino, or HSR, filing rules for mergers and acquisitions. Brett Beter, a partner in the Corporate Practice Group was recently interviewed by the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report about the FTC’s proposed rule changes to merger and acquisition rules. Read more about this proposed change … Continue Reading
Jones Walker LLP recently released the findings of our 2022 Ports and Terminals Cybersecurity Survey. Since 2018, we have surveyed key US infrastructure industries including the greater maritime industry in 2018 and the midstream oil and gas industry in 2020. The economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical events, supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, rising … Continue Reading
Most banks and their service providers are familiar with the final rule governing notice for “notification incidents” and “cyber security incidents.” With compliance due by May 1, 2022, the rule establishes standards and deadlines for service providers to notify banks of such incidents and for banks to notify their primary federal regulator “as soon as possible and … Continue Reading
P.J. Kee, a partner in the Labor & Employment Practice Group and a member of the trade secrets and fair competition team, authored the article “Do’s and Don’ts for Non-Competition Agreements Under Louisiana Law” featured in New Orleans CityBusiness. P.J. provides an outline of La. Rev. Stat. § 23:921, and the courts interpreting it, to better … Continue Reading
An employee’s termination date – that is, the date the employee quits or is fired – may be critical to determining when his non-competition obligations expire. Under Louisiana law, a non-competition agreement may not “exceed a period of two years from termination of employment.” La. R.S. 23:921(C). This rule was recently applied by the Louisiana … Continue Reading
Hackers are getting creative. As they gather information about potential targets for identify theft and other cybercrimes, they increasingly target companies’ human resources departments. Employee records often contain troves of sensitive personal information sought by such criminals – from original employee applications with social security numbers and driver’s license numbers, bank draft forms with bank … Continue Reading
A recent Louisiana court of appeal decision provides guidance on two issues that frequently arise in trade secret cases. Southern Marsh Collection, LLC v. State Traditions, LLC, 2017 WL 4985217 (La. App. 1st Cir. 2017) addresses the recurring question of when customer lists qualify as trade secrets and—somewhat surprisingly—holds the Louisiana Uniform Trade Secrets Act … Continue Reading
May an employer enforce a contract provision that forbids an employee to leave and take another job that would require him to use or reveal the employer’s confidential information? In Louisiana, maybe not, unless the agreement complies with Louisiana’s non-compete statute, La. Rev. Stat. § 23:921. In O’Sullivan v. Sunil Gupta, M.D., LLC, 2017 WL … Continue Reading
Theft of trade secrets by rogue employees is frighteningly common. When employees leave or lose their jobs, about half “steal corporate data and don’t believe it’s wrong” and forty percent “plan to use the data in their new jobs,” according to a 2012 global survey published by Symantec, a security firm. The survey was based … Continue Reading
Prosecutors and employers take notice — one of the most robust, wide-reaching tools against computer fraud and abuse could be blunted. The Second Circuit recently joined the Fourth and Ninth circuits in narrowly interpreting the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) in United States v. Valle, 807 F.3d 508 (2d Cir. 2015). Valle, an ex-cop, was … Continue Reading
Cyber-security and data breaches are hot-button issues that recently received some well-deserved attention from the federal government. Last year we posted about the FBI’s efforts to combat economic espionage and trade secret theft. At that time, the Assistant Director of the FBI—who was testifying before a Senate subcommittee—offered salient advice on how American companies could … Continue Reading
In a previous post, we examined T-Mobile’s complaint against Chinese smartphone marker Huawei and its US subsidiary, in which T-Mobile accused Huawei employees of stealing trade secrets relating to a mobile phone testing robot named “Tappy”. T-Mobile filed its complaint in September 2014, and the following month Huawei’s US subsidiary responded with a motion to … Continue Reading
The federal district for the Western District of Louisiana added to the growing list of decisions that have applied Louisiana’s non-compete statute to invalidate choice-of-law or forum-selection clauses. These decisions have struck down clauses that, on their faces, would have required Louisiana employees of non-Louisiana employers to litigate under the law or in the courts of … Continue Reading
A recent Florida appellate court decision may alter long-standing prohibitions against non-compete agreements for certain professionals. In AmSurg New Port Richey FL Inc. v. Vangara, the court upheld a non-compete, finding that it prohibited a physician from operating a rival business—but not from practicing medicine. This was the pivotal distinction for saving the non-compete, and other state courts could … Continue Reading
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana recently held that the Federal Arbitration Act preempts Louisiana’s non-compete statute (La. R.S. 23:921). Among other things, this statute invalidates forum selection clauses in employment agreements unless the employee agrees to or expressly ratifies the clause after the incident that gives rise to the dispute. … Continue Reading
Key takeaway: Where appropriate, confidentiality agreements should include promises not to reverse engineer the disclosing party’s technology. Meet “Tappy”, the mobile phone testing robot. Designed by T-Mobile’s Bellevue, Washington, labs in 2006, its mechanical “finger” mimics user inputs for mobile phones. Tappy helps T-Mobile model how users interact with mobile phones, replicating days or weeks … Continue Reading
A Louisiana appellate court recently decided that a non-competition agreement was unenforceable. But not because it contained unreasonable geographic or temporal restrictions or failed to strictly comply with Louisiana’s non-compete statute. Instead, the court found that the non-competition obligations had already expired during employment. That is, even though the employee continued to work for the company … Continue Reading
Perhaps the most significant of the employment law bills passed by the Louisiana Legislature this year is the “Personal Online Account Privacy Protection Act” signed into by Governor Jindal on May 23, 2014. Louisiana is now the 17th state to enact a “password protection law” aimed at protecting an employee’s personal online content included in … Continue Reading
A couple weeks ago, a company sued a competitor for allegedly stealing its trade secrets and hiring a key former employee, who developed the trade secret technology. But this is no run-of-the-mill trade secrets case. It involves some of the most pioneering figures within the gaming industry. ZeniMax Media, Inc., owner of id Software, LLC, publisher … Continue Reading
Financial regulators continue to sound the alarm about cybersecurity. The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (“FFIEC”) conducted a cybersecurity webinar on May 7, 2014, targeted at senior management of community banks. The FFIEC noted that attacks on smaller institutions are escalating in number and sophistication. The presenters noted that too many banks regard cybersecurity as … Continue Reading
Are published baseball card prices protectible as trade secrets? That’s one question raised in a lawsuit recently filed in Seattle, Washington. Beckett Media, LLC, a publisher of pricing and other information on collectibles and specialty products, sued Check Out My, LLC, the owner of COMC.com, which offers consignment services for collectible cards and other memorabilia. … Continue Reading
Are you confident in your ability to prosecute a trade secret case without losing those “secrets” in the process? The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals’ recent decision should give you pause before answering. The Court’s holding in E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co. v. Kolon Industries, Inc., underscores the significant risks of putting evidence into the … Continue Reading
