Whether you’re an employer or employee, you probably want to know whether the restrictive covenant such as a non-compete clause (“non-compete”) or non-solicitation clause (“non-solicit”) will be enforced.  Here are a dozen questions that could make or break your restrictive covenant. Do any non-compete agreements date from before May 11, 2011? If so, then Georgia’s […]

So far, no Georgia appellate court has interpreted Georgia’s 2011 Restrictive Covenants Act (“Act”).  But the federal courts have still made rulings on the Act.  While each case is different and none of these cases are binding on courts in Georgia, we can learn from these federal rulings.  Here are drafting lessons for your restrictive […]

You cannot enforce a non-compete agreement against every employee.  That may not be a surprise to you, and you may not care about enforcing non-competes against entry-level employees. But Georgia law can be more limited than employers may realize. Even employees that supervise other employees or have some customer-facing responsibilities may not be eligible for […]

You may.  Do you have valuable information that you have created and that you do not share publicly?  If so, you have something that you can probably protect as a trade secret. Here are answers to some questions you might have. What is a trade secret? Generally, a trade secret can be nearly anything that […]

A customer list may be the most valuable information held by a small business.  Yet the law does not always protect this information.  Indeed, customer lists may be less likely to receive trade secret protection from courts than other, more technical information. Whether or not a customer list is a trade secret depends very much […]

Customized or proprietary software may be your company’s largest asset.  But is it a trade secret? Software is different than other types of trade secrets because both copyrights and patents might provide additional protection. Protecting software as a trade secret has some advantages to using a copyright or patent.  For example, trade secret protection does […]

It’s a common scenario: An employer requires employees to sign non-competes, confidentiality and non-solicitation agreements.  A sales employee leaves for a job with a competitor.  Before leaving, the employee takes files—perhaps by emailing files to a personal email address or by copying files to a flash drive.  The old employer investigates the employee’s computer and […]

Earlier this month, UPS brought a trade secrets case in Georgia federal court.  UPS alleges that 5 unknown people—at least some of whom are UPS pilots—distributed a strategic PowerPoint presentation meant for senior UPS executives on the internet. These actions, UPS alleges, violated both the Defend Trade Secrets Act and the Georgia Trade Secrets Act.  […]

Many employers and employees are aware that Georgia’s law on non-competes[1] has changed.  Most view that change—the 2011 Georgia Restrictive Covenants Act, which we’ll call the “Act”—as making non-competes easier to enforce in Georgia.[2] Indeed, making enforcement easier was the legislature’s intent in passing the Act.[3] But is enforcement easier? Two 2017 decisions under the […]

A new suit in Fulton County offers reminders to anyone that may be involved in restrictive covenant or trade secret litigation—that is anyone who has signed a non-compete, anyone that has signed a non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement, any company that uses a non-compete, any company that has confidential information, or anyone that has business competitors.  […]