A decide within the Northern District of Texas just lately declined to dismiss a lawsuit, CiCi Enterprises LP et al. v. Mucho Pizza, LLC et al., alleging a pizza franchisee failed to keep up the confidentiality of Texas pizza chain CiCi Enterprises LP’s commerce secrets and techniques after two associates inked a growth take care of competitor, Papa John’s. This case highlights the significance of complete agreements and the discount of settlement modifications to writing.

Starting in 2010, CiCi Enterprises^[1] and Mucho Pizza, LLC^[2] entered into 17 franchise agreements, which supplied Mucho Pizza entry to CiCi Enterprises’

On May 31, 2023, a Harris County Texas District Court jury found a telecom company acted in bad faith by filing a $23 million trade secret misappropriation lawsuit against a rival where the underlying technology was found to not actually be a trade secret.

Background & Analysis

In February 2019, Telecom firm Teligistics, Inc. (“Teligistics”) sued its rival Advanced Personal Computing, Inc. d/b/a Liquid Networx (“Liquid Networx”) and company executives Travis Wood and Robert Short, alleging they misappropriated trade secrets concerning its online platform for handling contracts named Telibid. Specifically, Teligistics alleged a former Liquid Network employee obtained a copy

In Seyfarth’s third installment in the 2023 Trade Secrets Webinar Series providing valuable insights into navigating this evolving landscape, Seyfarth attorneys covered a range of topics, including the latest technology threats, the importance of communication and training, revisiting confidentiality policies, alternative trade secret protections, and updating restrictive covenant agreements. Here are the key takeaways from the Seyfarth webinar:

1. Staying Informed about Technology Threats: Employers must stay up to date with the latest technology employees can use to misappropriate sensitive data. This includes being aware of potential tools and methods that could compromise trade secrets. Equally important is keeping abreast of

• A law firm was fined $5,000 after one of its lawyers used ChatGPT to write a court brief.
• The document had included references to some cases and opinions that didn’t exist.
• The lawyer said he had “no idea” ChatGPT could fabricate information.

A law firm was fined $5,000 after a court found that one of its lawyers had used ChatGPT to write a court brief which included false citations.

The initial lawsuit was filed last year

Seyfarth Shaw’s Trade Secrets group has secured a notable position as one of the best in the country, according to the esteemed Legal 500 United States 2023 edition. This recognition reaffirms Seyfarth’s commitment to excellence in the field of trade secret law. Corporate counsel feedback has played a pivotal role in determining this ranking, with Seyfarth partners Michael Wexler, Robert Milligan, Kate Perelliand Dawn Mertineit earning a spot in the editorial’s “Leading Lawyers” category, while Joshua Salinas is recognized as a “Rising Star.” Jesse Coleman, Daniel Hartand James Yu are also mentioned in the

Over the last week, two apparently unconnected events happened that impacted restrictive covenants and labor laws. First, the National Labor Relations Board’s General Counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, issued a memorandum opinion that certain non-compete agreements may violate the National Labor Relations Act by suppressing workers’ ability to engage in protected concerted activity. Second, the Supreme Court issued the Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. Teamsters decision, where it was held that allegedly intentional destruction of property by a union was not covered by Garmon preemption, a preemption rule that restricts state courts from adjudicating state law claims that actually or arguably constitute an