“Hooray, my noncompete is no longer in effect. The FTC just voided it.” Not so fast. Everybody knows about the FTC’s 3-2 decision to ban noncompete agreements. There are thousands of news stories on the internet about it, and no need to regurgitate them. I would like to caution everyone who’s bound by a noncompete agreement not to be...
Continue Reading“I can ignore my noncompete because Biden banned them, right?” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this over the past few weeks. No, neither the Biden Administration nor the Federal Trade Commission has banned noncompetes. Even if the FTC were to attempt to do so, the new rule would almost certainly be immediately challenged in court. Chances are, such...
Continue ReadingIf you run a small business you look to control expenses wherever you can. And if you are going to ask your employees to sign a non-compete agreement, you are probably tempted to use a templated noncompete agreement rather than paying an attorney to draft one for you. Here are our two cents: It’s going to be much more...
Continue ReadingThis is a topic that occasionally comes up with respect to geographic limits on Texas noncompetes. If the noncompete provision contains a 10-mile geographic scope, does that mean ten miles measured in driving distance or ten miles through the air? Sometimes, this is an important distinction, because a particular point might be ten miles away through the air, but...
Continue ReadingNEWS: Major Update to Physician Noncompete Law Takes Effect September 1, 2025 In Texas, physician noncompetes differ from noncompetes in any other industry in several respects. The primary difference is this: The Texas noncompete statute requires that the physician be given the option to buyout of the noncompete if the physician wishes to do so. This “option to buyout”...
Continue ReadingWhat is a Non-Solicitation Provision? Texas non-solicitation provisions (aka. non-solicitation clauses or non-solicitation agreements) prohibit the employee, both during employment, and for a period of time thereafter, from soliciting the employer’s clients, employees, or both. Texas employment agreements frequently contain non-solicitation provisions, along with non-compete provisions and non-disclosure provisions. But whether a particular act or communication constitutes solicitation is not always...
Continue Reading“An oral contract is as good as the paper it is written on.” This is simply not true in Texas. In fact, a Texas jury awarded $11 billion dollars in damages to Pennzoil when Texaco interfered with an oral contract for the sale of Getty Oil to Pennzoil, one of the largest jury verdicts in U.S. history. While it...
Continue ReadingMany wars have been fought in Texas courts over the enforceability of non-compete agreements. But relatively few have been waged over the enforceability of Texas non-disclosure agreements. The reasons for this are many, including the fact that Texas courts have routinely held that, unlike noncompete agreements, nondisclosure agreements do not restrain trade; hence, they are far more enforceable. Also,...
Continue ReadingWhat is a Trade Secret Under Texas Law? Every business has some amount of confidential and proprietary information that it does not want its competitors to know. When someone uses a business’ confidential information without consent or threatens to do so, filing a claim for misappropriation of trade secrets is one way for a business to protect its information. However, in...
Continue ReadingNEWS: Major Update to Physician Noncompete Law Takes Effect September 1, 2025 Physician employment agreements are very prevalent. Unlike most Texas employees who are employed on an at-will basis, physicians typically have written agreements that can be worth hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars. In our practice, we see many disputes between physicians and their employers from both sides of...
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