
This post was originally published as a Seyfarth Legal Update.
In a January 11, 2023 op-ed published in the Wall StreetJournal, President Joe Biden urged “Democrats and Republicans to come together to pass strong bipartisan legislation to hold Big Tech accountable.” He warned that the “risks Big Tech poses to ordinary Americans are clear. Big Tech companies collect huge amounts of data” about technology users, including “the places we go,” and argued that “we need serious federal protections for Americans’ privacy. That means clear limits on how companies can collect, use and share highly personal data,” including location data.Potential…

“Practices that three unelected bureaucrats find distasteful will be labeled with nefarious adjectives and summarily condemned, with little to no evidence of harm to competition. I fear the consequences for our economy, and for the FTC as an institution”
– FTC Commissioner Christine S. Wilson
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) started 2023 with a bang. In addition to issuing a proposed Rule that would ban post-employment non-competes nationwide, the FTC announced that it had settled two previously undisclosed enforcement actions and entered into proposed consent orders with three employers based on a novel legal theory. According to the Complaints filed…

To continue our series on trade secret employee contract clauses, we’ve surveyed the First Circuit for updates to the law relating to restrictive covenants. Such covenants remain predominantly governed by statutes in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, while Puerto Rico continues to govern them by common law. And with no significant updates since 2020, restrictive covenants remain disfavored and under increased scrutiny in the First Circuit. Generally, these courts will only enforce noncompete agreements that are reasonable, no broader than necessary to protect an employer’s legitimate business interests, properly noticed, and in line with public policy. The applicable…

NBA star Zion Williamson has extra to have fun than his lately introduced five-year most rookie contract extension with the New Orleans Pelicans, value as much as $239 million. Williamson was additionally victorious in a lawsuit he filed towards his former agent Gina Ford, and her company Prime Sports activities Advertising and marketing LLC (“Prime Sports activities”). The case is Williamson v. Prime Sports activities Advertising and marketing LLC et al. within the District Court docket for the Center District of North Carolina, No. 1:19-cv-00593.
Williamson entered right into a advertising settlement with Ford and Prime Sports activities when he…

The most immediate concerns after a car accident are your health and your legal obligations.
First, you should be evaluated by a physician for any injuries. Not all car accident injuries are obvious. Brain injuries can be essential invisible, and other conditions may not show symptoms for hours or days after a car accident due to adrenaline and shock.
Next, you want to collect as much information about the accident as possible. Get all relevant information such as license plate numbers, names, locations, insurance providers, and other details and organize it. If there were any witnesses present at the scene,…

New York State may soon join the growing list of restricting jurisdictions or banning noncompete agreements. On June 7, 2023 the New York State Senate passed S 3100A (the “Bill”), which would prohibit employers from seeking, requiring, demanding, or accepting certain noncompete agreements.If adopted and signed into law, the Bill would significantly change the landscape for New York employers, in part because the legislation uses broad–and sometimes vague–definitions. The Bill defines “non-compete agreement,” as “any agreement, or clause contained in any agreement, between an employer and a covered individual that prohibits or restricts such as covered individual from obtaining…

The National Labor Relations Board’s top lawyer, Jennifer Abruzzo, issued a General Counsel memo today instructing the Labor Board’s Regional Directors of her position that noncompete clauses for employees protected by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) (ie., nonmanagerial and nonsupervisory employees) in employment contracts and severance agreements violate federal labor law except in limited circumstances. The memo, while not law, outlines her legal theory which she will present to the National Labor Relations Board, which makes law primarily through adjudication of unfair labor practice cases. The memo instructs the agency’s field offices of the position that the General Counsel…

For the last decade, one of the biggest issues in the Illinois noncompete law has been what constitutes adequate consideration for a post-employment restrictive covenant, apart from employment lasting at least two years after the agreement was signed. The “24 month rule” set forth in Fifield v. Premier Dealer Services, Inc.2013 IL App (1st) 120327 has caused much head-scratching, and the Illinois legislature was essentially punted on the issue in the recent amendments to the Illinois Freedom to Work Act, 820 ILCS 90/1, et seq. (effective as of January 1, 2022). (Full disclosure: One of the authors of this post…