Trade Secret / Noncompete Blog

This is the inaugural posting to Foley & Lardner LLP’s Trade Secret/Noncompete Blog.  And, what better way to kick it off than with an announcement of a symposium about whether noncompete and trade secret laws need overhauling?  The symposium will be held at the Boston Bar Association (and simulcast through WestLegalEd) on July 22, 2009, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.

The panel’s analysis and discussion will focus on relevant pending legislation in Massachusetts.  Those bills are as follows:

1.         A bill to abolish noncompetes presented by State Representative William Brownsberger.

2.         A bill to codify, clarify, and to modify the current common law presented by State Representative Lori Ehrlich.

3.         A bill to adopt a version of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act presented by State Representative Daniel E. Bosley.

Massachusetts, however, is not alone in its recent review of these areas of law.  Several states (including, for example, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, and Oregon) have been considering, or have recently adopted, noncompete legislation, and many recent judicial decisions have made significant clarifications to the laws of various states.  Accordingly, and with myriad reports of noncompete litigation on the rise, the issue should prove to be an important one.

The panelists will be:

State Representative William N. Brownsberger, Esq.

Russell Beck, Esq., Foley & Lardner, LLP, drafter of the bill presented by Rep. Ehrlich and author of the book,  Negotiating, Drafting, & Enforcing Noncompetition Agreements & Related Restrictive Covenants (3^rd ed. MCLE 2009).

Stephen Y. Chow, Esq., Burns & Levinson LLP, symposium organizer and drafter of the bill presented by Rep. Bosley.

Michael L. Rosen, Esq., Foley Hoag LLP, author of the Massachusetts Noncompete Law Blog.

Hon. Gordon L. Doerfer (Ret.), JAMS, moderator.

Dr. Matthew Marx, MIT Sloan School, investigator on longitudinal study of electrical engineer parties to non-compete agreements.

Mr. Scott Kirsner, “Innovation Economy” columnist, Boston Globe