You work for a large electronics research and development company, Razor Crest Enterprises. Razor Crest Enterprises routinely provides shipping and transport solutions to major companies, like Apple and Sony. Razor Crest also has a proprietary shipping container called the Grogu Pram which safely and efficiently stores valuable cargo in an egg-shaped container. Recently, a disgruntled employee, Moff Gideon, has been inquiring about aspects of his employment contract, which includes a non-competition clause. Your boss, Din Djarin, suspects that Moff Gideon may be considering leaving the company and potentially taking valuable trade secret information with him. Additionally, Razor Crest Enterprises has been suffering shipping delays due to the massive vessel congestion at several ports in California, although this may be changing. To avoid potential future revenue losses, your boss wants to find out as much information as possible about the situation. Din Djarin tends to be a little paranoid and constantly wants additional information to have informed conversations with other company executives and general counsel. Your boss wants to know more about the non-competition clause before discussing the Moff Gideon situation further. Din Djarin has advised you to focus on federal law and avoid state specific materials since Razor Crest Enterprises deals in several states. Your boss is very busy and will not be able to answer additional questions for the next two weeks while you work on this project. He has instructed you to include any additional information you may need in your report to him.
- Find a recent news article discussing the port container backlog in California. Recent in this case means 90 days. What source did you find? According to your current awareness resource, why did the port congestion occur and what is the current state? Provide a detailed research path. Hint: Both newspapers and Bloomberg Law might be good places to start.
- Find a form or checklist in Lexis that you can use as a basis for updating or amending your own internal policy guidance document on employment contracts, specifically patent and confidential information duties owed to the employer.
- Find an additional secondary source on non-competition agreements that will serve as an overview and refresher on such agreements so that your boss can quickly get up to speed. Recall your boss’s focus on federal law. Provide a detailed research path.
- In Westlaw, find a case that defines the term “trade secret”. What is that definition? What is the full citation for the case? Provide a detailed research path.
- For the case you found in question 4, in what court was the case heard? To what court can the decision be appealed, if any? Provide a detailed research path.
