The FTC's historic rule banning most employment-based noncompetition agreements (the noncompete rule), and its authority to issue such a rule, were the subject of court decisions handed down in the month of July. However, the decisions by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania were in direct conflict. The conflicting decisions created even more uncertainty regarding whether the FTC has the power to issue substantive rules preventing unfair methods of competition.