Intellectual Property Litigation

On Nov. 19, 2020, a Federal Circuit panel of Judges Dyk, Moore and Taranto issued an opinion, authored by Judge Taranto, in Whitewater West Industries, Ltd. v. Richard Alleshouse, Yong Ye, and Pacific Surf Designs, Inc., Nos. 2019-1852, 2019-2323 (Fed. Cir. 2020). The panel held that an assignment provision that encompassed post-employment inventions is void under California restraint-of-trade laws, reversing the opinion of the Southern District of California. Slip Op. at 2.