A first-in-nation ruling in Texas federal court casts serious doubt on the enforceability of the broad-reaching new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) noncompete rule. For any company seeking to legitimately protect its hard-earned competitive position, this opinion and the FTC's rule must be considered and understood. While the Texas decision was limited to the parties before that court, the reasoning is important in predicting whether the FTC's noncompete rule is likely to go into effect, and all companies need to be constantly reevaluating how they are protecting their corporate secrets.