Trade Secrets and Competition

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It is common in employee defection and trade secret cases for the plaintiff company to rush into court screaming that a robbery is underway that must be halted by the court.  The plaintiff cries that, absent the immediate intervention of the court, it will be stripped of any effective ability to compete and may be…

California’s prohibition on covenants not to compete is well established.  The statute that reflects this public policy, Business and Professions Code §16600 generally permits such covenants only in narrowly prescribed circumstances.  Those exceptions are all identified by statute at Business and Professions Code §§16601, 16602 and 16602.5.  These exceptions permit covenants not to compete when…

Now. 

Trade secrets (especially those relating to customers, pricing, costs and employees) can be a little like love taken for granted:  You don’t notice it until its gone. 

California law often protects such information (sometimes called “soft” trade secrets to distinguish them from product formulas and other “hard” trade secrets) from misuse by former employees…

You Hire A Top Performing Employee From Your Competitor And Then She Brings Along “Her Team.”

You’ve been working for months to recruit a competitor’s star employee. She arrives at your office telling you that she resisted counteroffers and is now on board.

Almost immediately, her cell phone begins to ring. Subordinates and co-workers from…