Unfair Competition / Trade Secrets / Non-Competition Agreements
Overview
Today’s increasingly competitive marketplace creates intense demands on businesses to attain instant market penetration and expand market share. In many industries, these challenges are at an all-time high. To survive - let alone succeed given today’s economic realities -requires that companies vigilantly seek, nurture, and protect the most important element in any organization—human capital. Companies find themselves competing on an almost daily basis to attract and retain top talent. In the race for highly skilled and trained employees, established companies often face pressure from competitors seeking to hire away key employees, divert their hard-earned business, and even plunder their proprietary or confidential information. Locke Lord’s unfair competition attorneys are focused on assisting companies to achieve their goal of securing and safeguarding their employees, customers, and trade secrets.
Locke Lord has an extensive record of being the attorneys to whom clients, nationally and internationally, turn when faced with these competitive threats. We know time may be critical, and our attorneys have the skill and experience to respond quickly to emergencies, often obtaining restraining orders or injunctive relief to protect our clients’ most valuable assets. We are also accomplished litigators who know how to use the federal and state courts to stop competitors from using ill-gotten confidential or proprietary information and trade secrets, to enforce non-competition agreements and other restrictive covenants, and to prosecute a myriad of claims, including unfair competition, anti-competitive practices and employee raiding.
Because prevention is often the best defense, our attorneys also counsel clients as to how best to protect their people and trade secrets, and assist in the drafting of comprehensive confidentiality and non-competition agreements.
In addition to retaining key employees, companies also have to attract and hire new talent in order to succeed. Locke Lord’s unfair competition attorneys have an equally distinguished record in guiding companies through the “stormy waters” involved in hiring top talent from competitors. Our attorneys regularly counsel companies as to “best practices” in hiring competitors’ employees, and defend hiring companies in unfair competition litigation.
Representative Cases Where Locke Lord Prosecuted Non-Competition Agreements, Restrictive Covenants, or Unfair Competition Claims
- Represented a national supply company in an employee raiding case where over 30% of its sales force in over 15 states was hired by a competitor, resulting in a six-figure settlement to the client.
- Obtained trial verdict on behalf of a leading biodiesel manufacturer seeking to enforce its non-compete agreement against a departing employee.
- Prosecuted, in approximately 20 states on behalf of an international medical device manufacturer, breach of non-compete and non-solicitation agreements, obtaining injunctions on behalf of the client.
- Obtained temporary and permanent injunctive relief for a national real estate client in Delaware against a competitor, which included a provision limiting the competitor's ability to employ former employees of our client in multiple states across the country.
- Represented one of the largest U.S. financial services firms in FINRA arbitration proceedings involving employee raiding claims and misappropriation of confidential information.
- Represented an international food and beverage company in a suit against its largest competitor and former officer for breach of a non-compete agreement and misappropriation of confidential information.
- Obtained temporary restraining order, permanent injunction, and monetary damages in non-compete dispute on behalf of client in the oilfield services industry
- Represented national commercial cleaning company in prosecuting non-competition litigation.
- Prosecuted numerous claims regarding misappropriation of trade secrets, tortious interference with employee on business relations/contracts, and breach of contract (non-disclosure, non-competition, non-solicitation or other restrictive covenant provisions) against competing companies and former employees.
- Represented national aircraft manufacturer in prosecuting non-competition litigation.
- Represented national health care company in prosecuting non-competition litigation.
Representative Cases Litigating Trade Secret and Confidential Information Disputes
- Prosecuted a claim for misappropriation of trade secrets and obtained a $25 million jury verdict in favor of an oilfield company related to drill bit technology. This verdict was recognized by Texas Lawyer Magazine in its Top Texas Verdicts of 2010.
- Obtained defense verdict on all claims on behalf of testing instrument manufacturer in jury trial involving trade secret misappropriation claims.
- Obtained injunctive relief and a monetary settlement on behalf of a home product manufacturer against a Guatemalan competitor and the client’s former vice president for misappropriation of trade secrets.
- Represented an insurance brokerage company to protect its confidential information from misuse by a former employee and competitor.
Representative Cases Where Locke Lord Defended the Hiring Company or Departing Employee
- Obtained a declaratory judgment for a national health insurance company holding a competitor’s non-competition agreement violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
- Counseled and advised an international well-servicing contractor regarding the simultaneous hiring of over 30 competitors’ employees, resulting in no litigation against our client.
- Defended a mortgage banking client that hired away two new branches from a competitor.
- Obtained a judgment in federal court on behalf of a mechanical pipe manufacturer declaring its leading competitor’s non-competition and non-solicitation agreements unreasonably overbroad and not capable of judicial reformation.
- Defended claims by former executives and employees regarding allegedly unenforceable or overbroad non-competition and non-solicitation contractual provisions.
- Defended national pet products company in non-competition injunction litigation.
- Negotiated a C-level executive’s departure from the New York office of a California-based financial management firm, resulting in the client’s immediate ability to continue to serve all of his clients through a new start-up venture.
- Defended wireless company in non-competition injunction litigation.
Other Representative Experience
- Drafted agreements for, and counseled clients in several states regarding, enforceability of non-compete, non-solicit, and non-disclosure covenants in several industries, including energy, oilfield services, computer software, retail, medical, manufacturing, and more.
- Conducted internal investigations for clients concerning appropriate use of confidential and trade secret information belonging to client, as well as that of other companies.
- Counseled clients regarding appropriate hiring decisions regarding applicants with non-disclosure, non-solicitation and non-competition agreements benefiting former employers.
- Negotiated and prepared confidentiality, non-solicitation, and non-competition agreements designed to comply with applicable state law requirements.
Publications
No results match your search criteria.
|
|