This paper discusses notable intellectual property law caselaw in the United States in 2013. The Supreme Court decided four patent cases, holding that isolated human DNA is not patentable; that lawsuits alleging legal malpractice in patent cases are to be litigated in state, not federal, court;...

Trade secrets have traditionally been protected in various ways by national laws in the European Union. The international intellectual property treaties offered only a limited common core. From this starting point this article examines the new EU draft directive on trade secrets. The aim is not...

This paper introduces and analyses the German Trade Secrets Protection Act of 2019 (Geschäftsgeheimnisgesetz), which implements the EU Trade Secrets Directive 2016/943. It also addresses issues of interpretation left open by the Directive, which will have to be decided by the CJEU and the...

This study explores the impact on companies' disclosures of U.S. states' different propensities to enforce noncompete agreements. I find a negative association between a state's enforcement of noncompete agreements and disclosure activities of firms headquartered in that state. Companies that...

The Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA) greatly expanded federal intellectual property law to include trade secrets. But the scope of the DTSA is not certain. Unlike Patent and Copyright, there is no independent constitutional basis for congressional legislation of trade secrets. Like...

Trade secret litigation is both intensive and expensive. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of enabling a defendant to require a plaintiff to identify the trade secrets at issue early in the discovery process and protecting a defendant that does so from responding to...

Recently, a cacophony of concerns have been raised about the propriety of noncompetition agreements (NCAs) entered into between employers and employees, fueled by media reports of agreements which attempt to restrain low-wage and low-skilled workers, such as sandwich makers and dog walkers. In...