Trade Secrets & Employee Mobility

Vienna Beef, the official hot dog of the Chicago Cubs, recently struck out in its effort to obtain a temporary restraining order against hot dog rival Red Hot Chicago, Inc. and the grandson of one of the founders of Vienna Beef, Scott D. Ladany.

Peter A. Steinmeyer of Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. will be speaking in an upcoming live webinar entitled "Noncompete Agreements: Latest Litigation Developments" scheduled for Thursday, August 11, 1:00pm-2:30pm EDT.

Peter Steinmeyer and I are pleased to announce that our guide, "Non-Compete Laws: Illinois," written with Christie Tate, is now available in PDF format. This guide is part of a series of guides written and published by our firm, EpsteinBeckerGreen, and the Practical Law Company.

Last week, in the case of Lucht's Concrete Pumping, Inc. v. Homer, the Colorado Supreme Court held that the continued employment of an at-will employee is adequate consideration for a noncompetition agreement. The Court explained that if this was not the case, employers would have an incentive to terminate at-will employees and condition their re-hire on the execution of a noncompetition agreement.

Will treating an individual as an employee rather than an independent contractor - when the parties have agreed to an independent contractor arrangement - preclude enforcement of a non-compete agreement? The Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently answered this question affirmatively, affirming a District Court Order denying an employer's application for a preliminary injunction.

For noncompete and trade secret lawyers in the healthcare industry, the recent Michigan Court of Appeals case of Isidore Steiner, DPM v. Bonanni highlights the importance of understanding applicable state privacy laws as well as the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Please join the attorneys of EpsteinBeckerGreen on June 7, 2011, at the National Press Club, as we present eight panels covering labor and employment topics that have increasingly impacted employers in the health care industry. 

Our first panel, entitled Significant Labor and Employment Issues that Affect Health Entities, will include representatives from the health care industry, such as a hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and emergency medical services. These executive panelists will discuss the critical labor and employment issues they are currently experiencing ...

In an interesting recent decision, the Supreme Court of Arkansas refused to enforce a non-compete in a lease agreement -- which clearly had been violated -- because it did not arise out of a contract of employment or contract for the transfer of goodwill or property.

A recent decision by the Indiana Court of Appeals prolongs a non-compete lawsuit that already has been pending for nine years.

Last year, the Gonzaga Law Review published an exhaustive study of federal court trade secret litigation. This week, it published a companion study of state appellate court decisions involving trade secrets during the period between 1995 and 2009.