Posts Tagged: "Department of the Treasury"

The United States Patent and Trademark Office would be exempt from turning over its collected fees to the Treasury. The USPTO, however, would be required no later than March 1 of each year to submit to Congress a report that describes any fee, fine, penalty, or proceeds from a settlement collected by the Office for the previous fiscal year. So why is the USPTO specifically excluded from this particular government wide agency fee diversion? That is a very good question.

In the past, employers typically only needed to be concerned that confidentiality and non-compete clauses in their employment agreements may be challenged either by departing employees who want to work for a competitor or by a competing company attempting to hire an employee or former employee. That tide is changing as an increasing level of government scrutiny has been directed at these employee restrictive covenants. Recently, federal and state agencies have been challenging the enforceability of confidentiality provisions and non-competes that the agencies claim are not supported by legitimate business interests. Given this change-in-tide and the New Year, now is the perfect time for employers to engage counsel to review their confidentiality and non-compete provisions.