‘I hate this rule’: the FTC's controversial non-competes ban

A US plan to ban non-compete clauses is like using “an axe rather than a scalpel to perform brain surgery” and may tear up trade secrets protection, finds Muireann Bolger.

When it comes to trade secrets theft, it is the murky episodes of corporate espionage, cyber-attacks and state-sponsored theft that tend to dominate the headlines.

But the more prosaic reality is that—in the vast majority of cases that land on lawyers’ desks—the alleged culprits are invariably disgruntled, ambitious or simply naive employees.

To make matters worse, a key tool that US companies have predominantly used to curb this threat is at risk.