In the second installment of the 2023 Trade Secrets Webinar Series, Seyfarth attorneys reviewed noteworthy legislation, cases, and legal developments from across the nation over the last year in the areas of trade secrets and data theft, non-competes and other restrictive covenants, and computer fraud. Plus, they provided predictions for what to expect in 2023.

As a conclusion to this webinar, we compiled a summary of takeaways:

• The FTC’s attempted regulation of employment non-competes as part of its rulemaking powers is unprecedented in the 109 years since its creation in 1914. The FTC bases its rulemaking authority on Section 5

Many around the league felt as if Steve Wilks did enough to deserve the Panthers’ head coaching job. He took the team over after a 1-4 start which was followed up by trades of RB Christian McCaffrey and WR Robbie Anderson, and multiple coaches leaving the staff along the way.

Despite all the roster changes and the constant revolving doors at quarterback, Wilks helped establish an identity on the offensive side of the ball, and due to a high buy-in from the locker room, he had the team just two wins away from clinching the NFC South division.

Thursday afternoon,

This post was originally published as a Seyfarth Legal Update.

In a January 11, 2023 op-ed published in the Wall StreetJournal, President Joe Biden urged “Democrats and Republicans to come together to pass strong bipartisan legislation to hold Big Tech accountable.” He warned that the “risks Big Tech poses to ordinary Americans are clear. Big Tech companies collect huge amounts of data” about technology users, including “the places we go,” and argued that “we need serious federal protections for Americans’ privacy. That means clear limits on how companies can collect, use and share highly personal data,” including location data.

Safeguarding trade secrets is typically Rule No. 1 for many companies—particularly technology companies. Therefore, when a company needs to share its highly-guarded trade secrets with a subcontractor in order to complete a project together, most companies understandably require the subcontractor to enter into a confidentiality agreement that includes a non-disclosure provision. Many of those confidentiality agreements also include a liquidated damages provision that is triggered by the subcontractor’s breach.

The benefits of including a liquidated damages provision are obvious. Often times it is extremely difficult—if not impossible—to calculate the precise, actual damage resulting from a breach. In these situations, a