This morning, I spoke and presented at the Institute of Continuing Legal Education’s Georgia Non-Compete/Trade Secret Seminar at State Bar of Georgia. Below are my top seven observations of non-compete and trade secrets
activity in Georgia:
- There is still no substantive guidance from the appellate courts in Georgia on the non-compete statute passed in 2011.
- There are gaps in who is covered by the statute that are fraught with peril for the unwary.
- A constitutional challenge to the statute is possible.
- Whether the Georgia courts can blue pencil or judicially modify over broad non-competes remains an open issue.
- Only actual lists of customers are protected under Georgia’s trade secrets statute, not the identity of customers.
- An agreement is necessary to protect confidential information that does not rise to the level of a trade secret.
- Under the new statute in Georgia, confidential information can be protected as long as the information remains confidential.