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CFC Requires Strict Adherence To FAR’s Data Rights Clause

Client Alert | 1 min read | 01.28.04

In what the court characterized as an issue of first impression, the Court of Federal Claims in Ervin & Associates, Inc. v. U.S. (Jan. 20, 2004), reviewed the scope of the FAR’s “Rights In Data--General” clause (FAR 52.227-14), holding that, among other things, the contractor failed to protect its technical data with the required restrictive legends and thereby granted the government “unlimited rights” in the data. In rejecting numerous defenses raised by the contractor, the court required strict adherence to the procedural and substantive requirements of the clause, finding that the contractor’s efforts to remedy its deficiencies were “both too little and too late” – a finding that highlights the necessity for contractors to follow such requirements or risk losing valuable rights to proprietary data.

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Client Alert | 8 min read | 09.09.25

FTC Stops Defending Rule Banning Noncompete Agreements, Opting Instead for “Aggressive” Case-by-Case Enforcement

On September 5, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) withdrew its appeals of decisions issued by Texas and Florida federal district courts, which enjoined the FTC from enforcing a nationwide rule banning almost all noncompete employment agreements. Companies, however, should not read this decision to mean that their noncompete agreements will no longer be subjected to antitrust scrutiny by federal enforcers. In a statement joined by Commissioner Melissa Holyoak, Chairman Andrew Ferguson stressed that the FTC “will continue to enforce the antitrust laws aggressively against noncompete agreements” and warned that “firms in industries plagued by thickets of noncompete agreements will receive [in the coming days] warning letters from me, urging them to consider abandoning those agreements as the Commission prepares investigations and enforcement actions.”...