Texas law (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 15.50) allows non-compete agreements when they are ancillary to an enforceable agreement and reasonable in time, geography, and scope. For Austin SaaS companies, the FTC’s 2024 non-compete rule—and the ongoing litigation around it—requires careful drafting and a fallback strategy focused on trade secrets and customer relationships. This […]
Texas non-competes remain enforceable in 2026, but only if they satisfy Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 15.50’s “ancillary to” and “reasonable” requirements. The FTC’s attempted nationwide non-compete ban has not displaced Texas statutes, yet it has changed how courts, employers, and employees scrutinize restrictive covenants. This update explains how to draft (and revise) enforceable
Texas tech companies can challenge an FTC non-compete ban by showing the rule exceeds FTC authority, is arbitrary under the APA, and conflicts with Texas trade-secret and contract interests. Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio employers also have antitrust and competition-law defenses to reduce enforcement risk and preserve lawful protections. This article explains how to
Texas non-competes are enforceable in 2026 only if they satisfy the Texas Covenants Not to Compete Act—yet many will be functionally unusable if the FTC’s non-compete rule is in effect. Small businesses must draft with both Texas statutory requirements and fast-moving federal litigation risk in mind. This article explains how to structure a Texas non-compete
